Decision
by Birchtail
Summary: My first fanfic. Hope you like it, and please review. Summary: After the space mummy incident, Warp has changed. He thinks differently about a lot of things, and he's considering returning to the old life-though he knows it won't be easy, and nothing will ever be the same. He has no idea just what kind of job awaits him back at Star Command.
1. Dust

Warp sighed deeply as the sound of the engines of his ship lulled him to sleep. He was tired; it had been a long day.  
As he drifted into the dark recesses of his neverland, he wondered for the millionth time, _Why?_

Why indeed? Why was he working for the most evil person in the galaxy? The thrill of his often-dangerous missions had long worn off, and he no longer got any satisfaction from beating the good guys. What made him keep at it?  
_I've never before had a job I didn't like. I wonder why I used to like this one; why I've stayed here so long. Maybe it's because of the pay. _  
Warp had always had something of a problem with greed; laziness also tended to overtake him if he wasn't careful. If he was doing something he liked, like fighting, he wasn't lazy at all. However, when it came to things like the office work he had had to do sometimes at Star Command... he just didn't care enough to do a good job.  
He pushed the autopilot button as he fell asleep.

Half an hour later, he awoke with a start, a sweat breaking out on his face and arms.  
He began breathing heavily, deeply, trying to wipe the memory of the dream from his mind.  
_She was standing in front of him, her face questioning, streaked with tears. _  
_"Warp, why? You could have stayed with Star Command and rescued my family! Or you could have just left us alone. Why? Why?"_  
Darkmatter's memory was all too good when it came to her. She was beautiful indeed; probably still was. So sweet, innocent, everything he used to be and now was not. They had grown up together, and when he had turned twenty and she nineteen, he had asked her for a date to a fancy restaurant he knew about.  
Those clear memories of the days, those beautiful days when he hadn't had anything to hide were almost too much for the hardened warrior.  
They had never even gotten to kiss; she believed that one's first kiss should be saved for the day of her marriage.  
Warp had once believed that, too, but he had kissed many girls since then.  
His blue hands tightened on the ship's throttle.  
_Where have my morals; my values gone? They used to be _there,_even if I was something of a rogue._  
Warp's train of thought changed abruptly as he sped by a certain planet he remembered too well.  
_I wonder if she's married. Probably. She was far too pretty, too_ perfect _for her to stay unmarried this long. _  
A crazy thought crossed his mind, and he gave a short, bitter laugh that came out more like the sickening yelp of a kicked dog.  
_In your dreams, Warp. There's absolutely _no _chance she would stay unattached, waiting for a handsome jerk like yourself. _  
He pulled on the joystick of the ship, turning it a fraction, enough to send him into a circle around the planet he had just passed. He had to have time to think.  
_Think about what, dummy? Mull over your _unhappy _past, think about your oh-so-pitiful future? You've got a moon of your own and a vacation asteroid to boot. If you keep up the 'good' work, you won't have to give any of it up. You won't have to give up your huge salary, all your comforts, your fancy spaceship, your luxury, your _liberty_._ _One silly girl shouldn't stand in the way of your _life.  
And one silly girl was making him waste valuable fusion crystals circling around and around her home planet.  
He grunted in disgust, but couldn't bring himself to pull the purple ship out of orbit.  
_I have to know if she's OK. I'll just drop down next to the civil office, right here, and ask if she's alive. Maybe I'll ask if she's married, give her a call if she's not..._

_Maybe you'll also ask if you want to get arrested, Warp. You've got a pretty thick skull there! You're a wanted criminal._

Gritting his teeth against the conflicting thoughts, he pushed the autopilot button once again and went back to the tail of his ship to enter the launch tube. Once in space, Warp headed down into the atmosphere of Nurengea. As he approached the surface, he realized how stupid his endeavor was.  
You can't find one blue-skinned, black-haired girl in a city of a thousand blue-skinned, black-haired girls. It makes it especially hard to find said needle in a haystack when you don't even know where she works, or, for that matter, _if _she works.  
It's especially difficult when you're in prison, and if Warp ended up on the surface, that's where he would be.  
He turned around, heading back out of the atmosphere. Whatever made him think she would still like him?

As he pulled his ship out of Nurengea's orbit to head back to Planet Z, a depressed, yet resigned look came over his face. He would never even see her again.  
Then a new thought came to him-he _could _go back to Star Command, make himself worth something, then go back to Nurengea a changed man, and ask for her hand.  
He hit his head on the dashboard. All this because of a dream?  
_You need to go back, Warp. You know it. Dream or no dream, you have an obligation to her, to Star Command, to the galaxy. You need to change your life for the better. _  
A rare look came across Darkmatter's face. Most who had seen him would not believe it if they saw it.  
Warp turned his ship toward Star Command, a boyishly joyous grin spreading on his face.


	2. Surrender

The space station where Warp had spent so many years was coming closer and closer to him. For a moment, Warp broke out in a cold sweat, his hands clinging tightly to the throttle and joystick, his heart pounding wildly. He felt trapped, as if he was a tiny insect leaping into the giant web of a spider much bigger than himself.  
He forced himself to relax, knowing he never would end up at Star Command if he kept this up.  
_Calm down, Warp. Everything's alright. You're doing the right thing, for once. Shouldn't that make you happy?_  
It did, but he was still terrified. He feared he would never leave PC-7 if he ever entered.  
_And isn't that exactly what you deserve?_  
He knew it was, but he still felt trapped.  
As he prepared to dock, be greeted, or something else-to be quite honest, he didn't know how he had expected to actually get back to the station-he took another deep breath.  
Sure enough, the lights in the top of the space station began glowing for a red alert.  
_Maybe I should tell them I come in peace. Of course they won't believe me, but it's the thought that counts, isn't it?_  
Several white-and-green ships shot out of their portals in the launch bay, and he could just envision Team Lightyear getting into their ship, readying themselves to battle Zurg's most powerful minion-once again.  
_I wonder if I'll get to keep my arm,_ he thought, glancing somewhat ruefully at the metal arm with its dual-function claw at the end. He would miss it, to be sure, but they probably would give him something less... dangerous, to replace it.  
_Yeah, they'll give you a nice new arm to escape with as soon as you get to PC-7. _

_Have you considered that Zurg will probably come to rescue you? You've made yourself quite valuable to him._  
"I won't let him," muttered Warp, under his breath. He had to battle this out alone.  
The Star Command ships rapidly surrounded Warp's red vessel. He wondered what he should do-he had never been taught how to surrender during his work on either side.  
Still wondering if it was the right thing to do, he went to the tail of his ship to get into the launch tube, memorizing his surroundings, knowing he would probably never see them again.  
_I'll miss this ship,_ he thought, looking over the sophisticated controls in the cockpit, the tidy appearance of the relatively-small craft.  
He launched off into space, then rapidly activated his jetpack and flew back to his ship, to stand on top of it.  
_I don't know what you do to indicate surrender when you don't have a white cloth, _he mused. _Maybe I can just use body language. _  
He held his arms out wide, bowing his head slightly.  
One team evidently got the gist and left their ship, flying toward him in a capture formation. At first, he readied himself for defense, then reminded himself that rangers were no longer enemies to him.  
As they approached, Warp cursed under his breath. Why did it have to be _that_ arrogant creature? Rocket Crocket was awful when it came to his ego.  
_Stupid, stupid, stupid. Warp, why exactly are you doing this, again?_

Crocket and company were coming closer. Warp swore again, and he saw Crocket's face instinctively harden as he did so.  
_You know, you'll probably have to stop that at some point. Why not now?_  
"I come in peace."  
"Good luck getting _me _to believe that, Darkmatter! You're under arrest!"  
Warp knew Crocket probably didn't find it worthwhile to read off all the charges he was accused of; he knew them well himself. Had once been proud of them. Would he ever get out of PC-7? What would happen to his moon, his vacation asteroid?  
"Come with me. There's _no _use in trying to get away." Warp could almost smell Rocket's self-confidence from here. He instinctively wrinkled his nose.  
Two members of Crocket's team grabbed Warp's elbows. A team member that had evidently stayed in the ship maneuvered it right against Warp's ship, getting ready to haul it back to Star Command. One of the team that was holding his elbows put handcuffs on him. Warp didn't really see how that incapacitated his cybernetic arm, because the end was still free to grab with the claw attachment and shoot with the plasma blaster. Oh, well, the temptation would soon be gone with the arm.  
"He's not resisting, team. There's something fishy about this. Watch him. I'll chew you out really good if you let him escape!"  
The team members that were holding Warp's elbows jetted back to their ship, which was, by now, not far away.  
"Check him for bombs. I don't want to lose this ship," ordered Crocket. Once they had gotten him into the ship, they peremptorily began doing so.  
"Nothing, sir."  
"I still feel like something's fishy."  
_Hmm, maybe it's time for a vacation, Crocket! Your ranger sense has gone bad... or is that powerful odor your ego?_  
Rocket's team wordlessly took him to the brig and locked him in the first cell to the right.  
"I wonder what my cell at PC-7 will look like?" he remarked quietly in the silence after their footsteps receded.  
It wasn't far to Star Command, and he knew when the ship docked in the landing bay. Rocket's team came, pushed a button to retract the bars in front of the door, and led him out of the ship.  
_Guess you never thought you'd see the inside of this place again,_ the blue man remarked to himself. _Nothing much has changed. _  
Rocket's team took him out of the launch bay, into long corridors he barely remembered. The color scheme was a big change from what he was by now quite used to; mostly white with some green and purple here and there. At least that much was familiar; everything on Planet Z that wasn't red or yellow was purple.  
They took him into a side corridor, lined with prison cells, and put him in one.  
"Don't try anything," they told him, and left him alone again.  
He wondered vaguely how long it would be before they got him out.  
The thought only had enough time to flit across his mind before the communicator on his cybernetic arm beeped.  
_Zurg._  
An image of the evil emperor's face flickered on screen.  
"Darkmatter!"  
_How many times have you heard that? Boy, that's one thing I won't miss. _  
"Yes, Evil Emperor."  
"Where are you?"  
"Somewhere in the galaxy."  
"Very descriptive. Now tell me where you are."  
"What does it look like? he asked, turning around to to give Zurg a view of his surroundings.  
"_Prison? _What are you doing in prison?"  
"Paying my dues to society. Any more questions? 'Cause I'll be glad to answer them now. I'm afraid I probably won't be doing too much more talking to you."  
"Are you _defecting?_"  
"Yup, Evil Emperor. You don't need to worry about me for a while, though. What you've commissioned me to do in the past will keep me in PC-7 for a good long while."  
"Oh, _craters._"  
Warp, with difficulty, bent to turn off the communicator by pushing his face against it.  
_Who thought I'd ever be so undignified?_  
_Well, now to wait._  
What must have been only half an hour, but what seemed to Warp to be a hundred years, finally pulled by, and a squad of Rangers arrived at the door.  
"Where am I going?" he asked.  
"To the science bay. You can't be taken to Capital Planet with that arm-thing," said one of the rangers, a blonde woman with a ponytail.  
"Ok." Warp knew it sounded weird, but he didn't know anything else to say. He looked down at his arm, trying to memorize it as he had memorized his ship.  
They entered the huge science bay. The rangers took him to a group of LGMs.  
"Please lie down over there," asked one of the LGMs, and Warp marveled at his politeness to even an enemy.  
Warp lay down on the table.  
"Please lay your arms flat by your sides."  
He did so, and metal clamps to hold them to the table were immediately applied.  
Another LGM approached.  
"Is your arm detachable or semi-permanent?"  
"It's never come loose on me before. Come to think of it, I really don't know."  
The LGMs investigated the joint between his shoulder and the arm.  
"It's semi-permanent," said one, then smiled politely at him.  
One of them held out a mask. Warp must have looked apprehensive, because the LGM said, "Sleeping gas. We'll need to do an operation to remove the arm."  
"Will I get a new one?"  
"Probably."  
He tried to relax as the mask was put over his nose and mouth, but he didn't have time before he drifted off.


	3. Sunspot

The first thing Warp noticed was the bright overhead lights. He squinted and instinctively pulled his cybernetic arm over his face to shield his eyes. _Where am I? _ Suddenly, his memories flooded back to him. He was in the science bay at Star Command.  
Nothing came up to shield his face from the bright light, and he briefly looked down at his side. The arm was gone; he wore a simple cast on his shoulder.  
An LGM walked over.  
"Good morning, Warp. How are you feeling?"  
"Weird."  
"Weird is normal for this sort of thing."  
"Do you know yet if I'll get another arm?"  
"No. Commander Nebula would have to authorize it."  
"Yeah, I guess so."  
The LGM turned away and began rifling through some papers lying on a nearby table. Warp knew better than to ask him what he was doing, but he strongly suspected those papers had something to do with him.  
"When do I go to PC-7?"  
"You were planning on this?"  
"Yeah. Changed my mind about a lot of things."  
"I don't know when you'll go to prison. Probably after your trial."

...

Warp spent the rest of the day watching the LGMs scurry about in the bay from his vantage point in a hospital bed near the wall. He noticed that they weren't working on any of the inventions that he had heard they usually did; he also suspected that was because of him. They probably were taking into consideration that he might be a spy. Warp didn't blame them.  
When the sun disappeared around the other side of Capital Planet, the LGMs stopped working and filed off through the tiny, low doors around the science bay to their rooms.  
Warp couldn't sleep. It was dark enough, sure, but he had a lot to think about. In a simple matter of two days, he had left his old life completely. He had really nothing to remind him of the past now-even his suit was replaced by a prisoner's uniform. His cybernetic arm was gone and he had no idea where his ship was.  
He briefly wondered if it had been a good choice, exchanging a busy, exciting life for years in a prison cell. But it was, and that was why he did it.  
Warp didn't get a wink of sleep that night.

The next morning, the convict was still awake when a squad of rangers removed the metal clamps around his wrist and ankles and replaced them with electric shackles.  
"Where are we going?"  
Two of the rangers exchanged looks, as if asking each other if it was a good idea to tell him.  
"To the briefing room. Commander Nebula wants to talk to you."  
Another ranger added, "He told us to ask you if you're feeling good enough to walk, or if you'd rather go in your bed."  
"I'll walk."  
One ranger held his elbow while another awkwardly stood there, wondering what he should hold. Warp had only one elbow now.  
"I won't run away."  
None of the rangers looked like they trusted him, understandably.  
"Ok, if you _have_ to, you can hold onto my ear or nose or something."  
The ranger looked embarrassed.  
"Are we going, or not?"  
The ranger holding his elbow marched on down the corridor, and the other rangers followed, surrounding their prisoner.  
It wasn't a long walk to the briefing room.  
"Hello, Warp."  
The commander was older than Warp remembered, and he had a very tired, sad look on his face.  
"Hello, Nebula."  
"Please sit down."  
Warp sat down in the only other chair in the room, and metal clamps immediately came up over his arm and the arm of the chair where his cybernetic arm would have been.  
"You're in trouble, Warp."  
"It's pretty obvious, isn't it?"  
"Well, I wanted to talk to you about your future."  
_Good thing. I was wondering when I would get to know where I'll spend the rest of my life._  
"You've done enough stuff to send you to prison for life."  
"I know."  
"Are you happy with what you've accomplished?"  
"No." Warp hung his head.  
"I'm sorry, Warp. Real, real sorry. But there's nothing I can do, at least not right now. Your trial is tomorrow. Oh, and the LGMs were asking if I'd authorize a new arm."  
"It would be nice."  
"I really don't know if I can trust you with one."  
"Ok."  
Nebula opened his communicator.  
"You can come and get him."  
The rangers took Warp away, and he was dropped back off in one of the prison cells, this time with a softer bed to accommodate for his recent surgery. He rubbed the cast with his hand, missing his claw dearly.  
The rest of that day was nothing short of monotonous. Warp hated forced inactivity.  
He couldn't sleep well that night, but at least he managed to get an hour or two. He made a mental note to find some way to tell time; it was going to drive him up the wall at PC-7 if he didn't find some way to count the hours.  
Warp really couldn't tell if it was morning when he heard footsteps in the hall outside his cell. The bars retracted, he was handcuffed and shackled, and the rangers took him to ship number 20 and boarded. He was put in another cell, they launched, and he sat on the hard metal bench until they docked at Capital Planet.  
When he left the landing bay, he was instantly blinded by the lights of hundreds of camera flashes. He instinctively lifted his phantom arm to his face, then remembered it wasn't there and lowered his shoulder.  
Warp moved on, out of the crowded pavilion in front of the Galactic Alliance headquarters and into the spacious, artistic interior. It was a huge room, and senators from more planets than he could name sat at their desks inside.  
Madame President was at the head of the room, but it wasn't her job to judge cases, so a judge stepped forward in her place as Warp entered the room.  
"The defendant may stand there," he said, gesturing to a seat in front of and to the right of the podium. "Since there are many plaintiffs for this case, we will take the responsibility upon ourselves and Madame President will take the place of plaintiff."  
The trial was long, and Warp cringed at every accusation that was piled on top of his head-he hadn't realized just how much he had done.  
He left the headquarters with a sentence of life at PC-7.  
_Why did you do this? You are so, so stupid sometimes. Why? Can't you see how this won't help you get back to your beloved? You'll probably never see her anyway, and you'll spend the rest of your entire life in confinement. A cell, Warp. A cell where you'll never see the light of day. _  
Warp was led to the ship that would take him to PC-7. He was seated in the middle of the plane, just for safety's sake.  
A metal clamp came up over his good arm, and likewise over his phantom arm on the other side. He felt trapped nevertheless; like a bird with its tail caught in a snare.  
He heard the faint sound of the thrusters firing up, and they were off. Warp felt a strange emptiness inside, as if the fingers of his one arm had just barely grazed off the trophy he had been aiming for and now it was gone, never to return.  
It took nearly half the day to get to PC-7, by which time Warp's restlessness had driven him to exercising his phantom arm; pretending it was real and whole and _there._  
Guardbots advanced down the center aisle, one grabbing his arm and the other loosely resting its hand on his shoulder, just in case he tried something.  
_A couple days ago, these wouldn't have been any obstacle at all, Warp. _  
Something he had no explanation for kept him from striking out at the guardbots as he had done numerous times before. His goal was gone; vanished like the mist in the wind. He didn't know what kept him from freeing himself.  
The guardbots watched him carefully as he descended the ramp from the hatch in the side of the ship.  
_PC-7 sure is big,_ thought Warp as he stared at the huge interior of the landing bay. After the center had been almost destroyed by Torque and his duplicate henchmen, security had been tightened still more. Warp seriously doubted that Zurg would be able to get him out of here with anything short of a huge explosion. And he was _not _interested in losing his other arm.  
He was led to his cell, a special one designed for the most dangerous criminals. It wasn't a typical prison cell, one of the kind they put greasy little weasels like Crumford in, with its ghost-proof, blast-proof walls and bars.  
It looked fairly comfortable. There was a bed in the corner, a sink at the other side of the cell, and a simple blanket on the bed. That was it for the furnishings, but Warp admitted he could have done worse. It was staying here day in and day out, year in and year out, that scared him.  
_I wonder where they have exercise._ _I hope I get to see other people sometimes. Wonder if I can ask for visitors?_  
Determined to have his question answered, he called loudly, "Guard! Guard! Come here a minute!"  
There was no answer for a moment, so he called again.  
_Warp, they're not here to wait on your every need, you know._  
A guardbot arrived outside the bars on his cell a second later.  
"Can I ask for visitors? Call people?"  
The guardbot held out a datapad.

_Visitors:_  
_No visitors are allowed except on visitor days. Visiting hours are Monday 8-10 and every other Sunday 2-4. One visitor at a time._  
_Calls: _  
_You may not make a call to anyone at any time. You may receive censored and screened calls from select persons._

"Thank you. What day is it today, anyway?" Warp couldn't believe he had lost track already, but it was true.  
The guardbot pushed a button on the datapad and held it out.  
_Sunday._

"Thanks. That's all."  
The guardbot changed something on the datapad and held it out for Warp to see again.  
_You have used up 1 of your 2 non-emergency guardbot attendances today. _

The guardbot turned and headed back down the hall.  
"Everything, _everything _regulated."  
Warp sat down on the bed, feeling more depressed than he had in his life. Always before, there had been some new adventure to look forward to; some new event that he knew would take place soon and that he didn't want to miss for the world.  
Now he was stuck in one room for the rest of his life.

Warp was so exhausted that he was able to sleep a few hours after the curtains shut on the bars of his cell door. He assumed that was the way prisoners told night from day here; curtains shut to curtains open.

He awoke next when the curtains opened. He called for a guardbot, not caring that he was using up the first of his attendances for the day.  
"I want to request a visitor."  
The guardbot gave him a datapad.  
He rapidly typed in her name.  
The guardbot turned away briefly to make the necessary call to PC-7 headquarters. It turned back to Warp and gave him the datapad again, to type in her phone number and password (to prevent people she didn't know from calling her). He hoped desperately that they were still the same.  
The guardbot took the datapad and zoomed away. Warp held onto the bars, craning his neck to see where the bot went.  
Fifteen minutes later, if Warp still had any perception of time, the bot returned.  
_Visitor has been notified. _  
Now to see if she would show up.  
Warp found himself pacing back and forth in the narrow cell, wondering whatever he expected to say to her once she came. He should know not to hope that she still liked him; even that she still remembered him as he used to be, before he started working for Zurg.  
What must have been an hour later, a guardbot escorted a woman up the aisle to Warp's cell. She wasn't skinny, but not overweight, and she had long black hair that fell easily around her shoulders. Her blue face looked sad, disturbed, and more than a little angry.  
The guardbot left her at the barred door of Warp's cell. She softly cleared her throat, and the big, powerful-shouldered man sitting on the bed, facing away from the door, turned to see who was there.  
He was at the door of the cell in a second. She gasped instinctively.  
"What happened to your arm?"  
"Doesn't everyone know?"  
She was surprised at the sadness in his tone. Warp had never been one to regret his actions.  
The blue-skinned woman had difficulty fishing up the anger she had kept so long against this man. Just the sight of him, and so sad, so broken, too, made her lose her pent-up fury. She made a weak attempt at an angry comment on his state.  
"Look at your life, Warp. What have you done with it except for evil?"  
Though she didn't know it, her comment hurt Warp deeply.  
"I'm-I'm... sorry." The last word was barely a whisper.  
"Me too, Warp." Laina's eyes filled with tears.  
"It's too late now, though, isn't it? I'll never be able to fix things."  
"Are you really sorry?"  
"Yeah."  
"I heard you told Zurg you didn't want to be rescued."  
_Of course. Stupid security cameras!_  
"You heard right. I was a blundering fool..." he stopped to stare blankly at nothing.  
"You did the right thing, Warp. That's far from a fool."  
Her words brought him some comfort, even though they wouldn't get him out of PC-7.  
"I want to apologize, Laina. I know it won't do any good..."  
"It's OK, Warp. I know you're sorry."  
Laina readied herself to leave.  
"Will you come to see me next week?" asked Warp.  
"Uh, Warp, I really can't come down here every Monday. Fusion crystals are expensive, and my ship barely passed emissions last year."  
"Oh."  
He ventured to ask one more question. He knew he had to ask it, even if he had thought he knew the answer earlier. There was still some small hope...  
"Laina, what about us?"  
She closed her eyes, and a silent tear rolled down her cheek. She shook her head and bent to pick up her purse, her hair falling into her teary eyes.  
"Laina, please."  
"Warp, I can't see that happening, not with you here. I can't even afford to come here often... maybe once every few months."  
He sobbed silently after the sound of her shoes clicking on the hard floor finally was gone.

Life at PC-7 soon settled into a regular pattern. The highlights of Warp's average day became mealtimes and exercise on a treadmill in his cell. He was allowed books from approved reading lists to keep his mind from turning to mush. Warp had read of times when people who were put in legal prisons went insane from boredom; he was very glad he had _something_ to do.  
Still, the long hours dragged on and on, and it wasn't long until he began to hunger for companionship. He hadn't talked to anyone but a guardbot for weeks, and they didn't even talk back.  
_Surely it's OK to ask for someone to visit me. The only person I can think of at the moment is Laina. _  
Laina informed him that she was unable to visit; her father was dying and she had to be there.  
The Monday after that, she had a different work schedule.  
The next Monday, she was at her father's funeral.  
Both Sunday and Monday of the next week were busy too.  
And so it went. When the crisis of Laina's father's death passed, she found other excuses not to come. Finally, he gave up and stopped asking.  
One day, just another among countless others just like it, Warp raised his head to take a look at himself in the tiny mirror above the sink while he was brushing his teeth.  
He'd been able to keep his haircut and beard looking nice, pretty much like they had before. His eyes had shadows under them, but the rest of his face looked good.  
What was different about him?  
_It's your demeanor, Warp. You're humbler._  
He looked away from the mirror and his self-reflection to see one bar slide back in the door and his food come through. Warp took the plate and ate the food from it. It was good food, but the same day in and day out quickly became tiring.  
As soon as he finished the food, he called for a guardbot to activate the treadmill in his room. He now used one of his attendances for exercise, and saved the other just in case.  
The treadmill only was on for hour-long periods at a time, and if you got tired of exercising before the time was up, you could stop when you wanted to.  
Warp liked to run on it for the whole hour; he needed exercise or he became very restless. He had learned his weaknesses well in the past year.

Warp was halfway through his exercise when a guardbot came to his door, escorting an entirely unexpected visitor.


	4. End of the Tunnel

_Commander Nebula!_  
Warp's dulled mind refused to comprehend it for a few seconds; someone had actually come to see him! He had to make the most of this visit; had to appreciate the conversation he was allowed.  
"Hello, Warp."  
"Hello, Commander!"  
"How's it going?"  
"As good as can be expected. There's no change in the routine, but other than that, I'm well taken care of."  
"Good."  
"Why did you come?"  
"Well, there's something I want to discuss with you."  
"What?"  
"Well, I wanted to talk a little about my past, and a little about your future."  
_Here comes. The lecture about how wonderful you were in the past, then how desperate and sad my future is because of my choices in the past. Brilliant! So original._  
Nebula must have seen Warp shut his mind, because he said, "Warp, I'm talking about an _alternate _future for you."  
His ears perked, and he was listening again.  
"Well, not many people know this, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to tell you because of your own past. I've gained a lot of trust in you during the past few months, you know. It would have been easy for you to tell Zurg to come rescue you in that cell, and you resisted. Since you've stayed here so long, I'm beginning to believe that you _have _changed."  
Warp's fist clenched. Was Nebula offering him a chance to leave this place?  
"When I was your age, I had done a lot of stuff too. And none of it was any good."  
"You mean, you worked for somebody bad too?"  
"I worked for Zurg, no less. That was _before _Shiv Katall became someone the innocent could trust."  
"So Shiv Katall was _real_ before you turned to the good side."  
"I didn't turn to the good side-not in time, anyway. But my dad helped me put my life back together, and the Commander of Star Command at that time helped him. I hadn't done as many things as you have-so my sentence was a lot shorter. I did spend six years here, though. As soon as I left, I went to Star Command and began ranger training. I've been a ranger ever since."  
"What about your leg? I thought you lost it while you still were Shiv Katall."  
"I did. I lost it while I was actually _working _for Zurg, just like you lost your arm."  
"But you have a peg leg now! Why don't I have an arm?"  
"I didn't have one until I left PC-7. Don't you want to hear more about your future than a silly new limb?"  
"Yeah. Just kinda hope a new arm's included in said future," he said, halfway under his breath.  
"Well, do you want to go be Agent Z again, in a manner of speaking?"  
"Agent Z!"  
"I said, in a manner of speaking. You won't actually take on the identity of Agent Z-you'll get a different identity so you won't have as much of a chance of being discovered. Shiv Katall isn't working for us anymore, not since our cover's been blown. We need a new bounty hunter; a new soldier; a new plant in the dark side. You know all of Planet Z's weaknesses."  
Warp instantly saw years of excitement and business; high-speed chases and the defeat of those he now considered his worst enemies.  
Then he saw himself. The muscles in his one arm weren't all they once had been, and he wasn't sure he could learn to use a cybernetic arm again.  
"I would love to, but I'm not anywhere near in shape."  
"We'll retrain you, so you have the advantage of both Star Command and Planet Z training on your side."  
He paused a moment.  
"This will involve a lot of trust. Warp, I'm offering you a big chance, and if you run and become Agent Z, this will hurt a lot of us worse than it did when you switched sides the last time."  
"I'm sorry about that."  
"I'm going to depend on the fact that you are."  
"When do I leave?"  
"Tomorrow. Then you'll begin combat training, so you'll be good and ready by the time you leave Star Command. Do you think you need any help re-learning interaction with people?"  
"No," he said. "Do I really sound that bad?"  
"Nope, just asking. Well, see you tomorrow!"

Warp sat down on the bed, his future suddenly stretching out like a rich tapestry before him. He didn't care that he didn't have his moon, his asteroid, his wealth, his arm. He just cared that he was back in business, and doing something he knew he would love.

The next day, a squad of top-secret rangers was there as soon as the curtains over his door opened to give him his new suit and take him to Star Command.  
One of the rangers, the same blonde woman he had seen a year before when he had first been captured, punched in the right combination for his cell in the number pad on the outside wall.  
The bars in front of the cell door retracted, and Warp was at a loss what to do for a moment. Suddenly having the freedom to leave the cell-it was shocking to him. He couldn't imagine what he would do if he had actually stayed here six years like Commander Nebula.  
"Hello, rangers!"  
Two rangers exchanged looks, and the blonde woman predictably shackled his arm and feet. It was pretty obvious they didn't quite share the commander's confidence that he was really changed.  
They led him to the plane, and he spent half a day in the brig on the way to Star Command. Warp really didn't care at this point; he was overjoyed just to see something different than the cell he woke up to every morning.  
Warp spent most of the time on the way to Star Command dredging up memories of fighting and hacking techniques; of the technology of Planet Z, and the technology he'd probably be given at Star Command. He wondered what his new identity's suit would look like.  
_I'll have to have a new arm. It'd be pretty obvious who I was if I went to work for Zurg with a missing arm, or worse, an obviously cybernetic one. I'll probably end up with a bionic arm._  
The little boy inside him said, _Cool! Something different! I've never had a bionic arm before! _but the grown-up inside said, _No built-in weapons. You'll have to change your fighting style quite a bit, if you still even remember it._  
He didn't have too much time left to mull over anything by the time he started thinking about his arm; they docked at Star Command and he left the ship, somewhere other than PC-7 for the first time in a year. It was astonishing, how good you could feel as a free man. He noticed that the launch bay was empty; probably Nebula had conveniently called a meeting so no one would see Warp.  
The rangers trotted him down one hall, then down another and another. Warp finally saw his quarters; a big room right off the training bay. He had to say, it would be nice to be able to train whenever it wasn't the rangers' turn.  
_It's weird, being here and not being a ranger, _thought Warp.  
His train of thought changed abruptly when he saw the room he was to stay in.  
_Wow, cool! It's nice and roomy, and I have the freedom to move from training bay to room, to training bay pretty much whenever I want to._  
The rangers let him take a look at the room, then they took him to the science bay.  
"Why am I going here?"  
"New arm. You'll need one for training."

The LGMs were busy as usual. Warp honestly wondered whatever kept them busy all the time.  
"Hi, everybody!"  
The little green men turned and gasped. "Waarp." said one.  
"Does he need a new arm?" inquired another of the ranger that held his elbow.  
"Yes. A realistic-looking bionic arm."  
"No weapons, right?" asked the LGM.  
"No. Just make it capable."  
"We'll need a few hours to make it."  
"Keep him in here until then. Nebula can't make the meeting last much longer, and we wouldn't have time to get Darkmatter to his room and back to the bay in time."  
Warp spent the next few hours sitting in a chair near the edge of the bay, patiently waiting for his arm to be finished. It wasn't boring to watch the LGMs work; in fact, he found himself fascinated as he watched his new arm take shape. It was meant to look and feel exactly like his other arm, but inside it had elaborate, well-designed electronics and mechanics. He wondered if they were adding any surprise features; he hoped so.  
It was late in the afternoon by the time the little green men finally gave a collective sigh of relief. The arm was finally complete.  
"All right, Warp, please lie down on that table."  
_Hey, I remember this table! Everything's the same... except this time I'm getting an arm instead of losing one._  
Warp peremptorily obeyed. An LGM fitted the mask into place over his face and the science bay faded into darkness.

When Warp awoke, there were only a few LGMs standing by his bedside.  
"Where are all the rest?" he asked, shaking his head to wake up.  
The LGMs replied, "Sleeping. How do you feel?"  
Warp craned his head to the right. "I have an arm! Wow! It looks just like my other one!"  
"Good. Do you feel like staying in bed, or would you like something to eat?"  
Warp looked up through the glass ceiling of the science bay and realized that the sun had gone behind Capital Planet and was already on its way around the other side.  
"Whoa. I must have slept for a long time."  
"You did."  
"Hey, how about that food?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck with his new hand.  
"Coming right up."  
He ate the food hungrily, even though it couldn't be called by any other name than _rations. _Warp had learned not to be picky; one of the many useful traits he had gained while at PC-7.  
When he was done eating, he felt rarin' to go. Modern implant/limb replacement techniques often enabled the patient to be up and running within minutes. Pain from surgery was a rare thing nowadays; it had gone out with sterilizing instruments in alcohol. Now they were sterilized by a blast from a special kind of ray.  
"Can I go back to my room now?"  
"I'll check with the commander."  
The LGM went over to one of the computers by the wall and made a quick vidphone call to make sure all was clear.  
"Everyone's home or sleeping right now, so you're safe. If you feel up to it, he says you can practice using your new arm in the training bay."  
_Sounds cool,_ he thought.  
He was walked back to his room by a team of very sleepy, annoyed-looking rangers; the same ones that had brought him to Star Command.  
He didn't feel like staying confined in his room, even if it was big; he wanted to go train. Pushing a button to open the hatch into the training bay, he stretched both his arms, rolling his shoulders back. He _was _out of shape, and anxious to see what his new arm could do.  
There was no one in the bay when Warp strode into it. It felt very strange indeed, to be here again, and at the wrong time. The hatch abruptly closed behind him, and he heard the sounds of the training challenges gearing up for combat. Warp instinctively took a defensive stance, ready to take on whatever came at him.  
A line of guardbots approached. Since in this case, he was supposed to defeat them, Warp lifted his weight onto one leg and swung the other around him in a wide semicircle, knocking the bots to the ground. Then he lifted his arm/plasma blaster to finish them off - wait, he had a bionic arm now. Weird how one's mind keeps old memories so fresh.  
However, he did have a laser in the Star Command standard issue suit-given him until he could get a permanent suit. He expertly aimed and fired, vaporizing the guardbots.  
_Ah, being back on the job is like a breath of fresh, fresh air._  
"Bring it on, 'bots," he muttered to himself as the next line approached. If defeating Star Command's fairly advanced standard robots was this easy, vaporizing Zurg's dumb-as-shovels (as he had once heard Mira had said) hornets would be, to put it literally, a 'blast'.  
This line of bots held out their weapons as they approached, and Warp decided on the immediate-fire approach. He held out his arm, pressing firmly on the fire button. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed these arm lasers. His claw had been better, though.  
_I wonder what exactly my arm can do, _he thought.  
As he glanced at it briefly after blasting that row of robots, he noticed a tiny button on it. It wouldn't have been noticeable to most people, but Warp's eyes had been honed by necessity to notice every detail in his job as Agent Z. He pushed it, and his eyes suddenly went wide as he rocketed to the ceiling, carried by his new arm. Upon pushing the button again, he dropped once more.  
Warp noticed there was a row of nicely-sized holes burnt right out of his suit. They followed his new bionic arm, from his wrist to his elbow.  
"Cool. Now I have a backup jet pack." He laughed, a low, confident laugh.  
He faced the next obstacle. This time it was the infamous bubbles rolling out of the chutes in the walls and nets dropping from the ceiling; good old trap avoidance training. He wasn't too used to this anymore after his year at PC-7, he realized as a net barely grazed his bionic arm and he scarcely managed to jump a bubble rolling his way in time.  
Next it was time for the big robots. He could get these pretty easily; he took a weapon from his belt and fired a few times to take them out. Warp easily avoided the next barrage of bubbles; he was already off the floor and pretty much safe from them to start with.  
He had just finished off one giant robot when he noticed a huge bubble coming his way. Another giga-robot fired at his jet pack, and he lost height rapidly. He suddenly panicked, his heart sinking. Would he lose his first battle back at Star Command? Then he remembered something. A smug smile coming over his face, he activated the propellers on his arm and quickly flew out of the way, aiming his laser at the bubble, which, in turn, reflected it against the rest of the robots and peremptorily blew them up.  
Warp heard the sound of the technology switching to lower gear. Things had to be cleaned up in here before the rangers came in for training.

He took a long look back at the mess he had made in the training bay, a slow smile spreading over his face, before he closed the hatch to his room.

All right!  
So, there are some important new developments in Warp's life; there are more coming, though *ahem*. I feel like I need to finish a suit design for his new bounty hunter identity, though, before I write about big epic adventures.  
And I apologize if Warp seems OOC, or if my version of Nebula's background bothers you. I know the story hasn't involved many canon characters so far, but so far, it's also been mostly about Warp.  
You know, this fanfiction thing really suits me.  
Thanks for reading, and, as most writers do, I really do appreciate reviews!


	5. New Suit, New Man

Nebula sat at the big table in the empty briefing room and cleared his throat.  
"Well, Warp, the LGMs came up with a suit design for you."  
"Can I see it?"  
"Yup. Here it is," he said, motioning to a box next to the wall. Warp walked over to it and pried the lid off with the tips of his fingers.  
"Well well. Looks nice."  
The suit was completely black, and obviously built for both combat and stealth. A row of lasers circled each forearm just below the elbow, and there were fusion-powered jets in the bottom of the boots. Several weapons, blasters and stunners of various kinds, were hooked on to a belt at the waist. There were long gloves to conceal each arm, and Warp immediately noticed that there were no holes for the jets of his new arm; he would have no way to use it to advantage once he had the suit.  
_Wonder what the LGMs had in mind when they designed this thing? Why shouldn't I use my arm?_  
There was a black helmet attached to the suit. It closely resembled his helmet from his Agent Z days; however, it was missing the horns and was less boxy. There would be no way to tell it was Warp inside the suit; especially not since no one knew he had gotten a new arm.  
He put his hands on his knees and stood up, facing Nebula at the table.  
"It's cool, but how can I use my arm in this thing?"  
"You won't."  
"Why? When _will _ I get to use it?"  
"That's the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. Warp, do you mind dying?"  
His eyes went wide, then a sardonic smile slowly came across his face. "Yeah, what's the joke?"  
"No joke. I was thinking that if you could 'die' in the public eye, your old identity, which is still, according to the books, back in your cell at PC-7, could be flushed for good."  
"And how do you plan to make _that_ happen?"  
"It wouldn't take much effort. Make sure things are A-OK with the biggest officials of the Galactic Alliance, make a statement to the press, and you'll be free and clear of your old identity. The Alliance has had a lot of reason to gain trust in you over the past year."  
"But isn't that... a bit sneaky?"  
"We are in severe need of a new plant in the dark side. Zurg has been awfully quiet for a very long time, and we need someone to go check it out. Anything short of 'sneaky' won't cut it. Zurg usually doesn't let fully costumed space rangers into Zurgspace."  
"How do you know he'll even hire me?"  
"It'll be simple. There are four grubs and a brainpod preparing to defect, and we'll put the task of 'obliterating' them, or rather their identities, on you. It'll be a good practice mission; enough danger to prove yourself, but easy enough not to get hurt or found out."  
"Oh, and that other thing I was going to talk to you about - you'll need a secret identity."  
"And if I stroll across Alliance Plaza in casual clothes, _no one's_ going to notice me. I have a pretty distinctive face, mister."  
"I'm not talking about that kind of secret identity. You can spend your leisure time, if you end up having any, back here in your room next to the training bay."  
"What other kinds of secret identities are there?"  
"If you're interested, and I hope you are, you can be a space ranger again."  
"Who are you kidding? I can't just take up my old job and not have anyone question it!" Warp was seriously wondering if Nebula needed to see Dr. Animus by now.  
"Nope. Your secret identity wouldn't be _you, _it would be your ghost."  
"What do you mean? I'm not dead!"  
"But to everyone but a select few, you will be."  
"Oh... I see!"  
Warp collapsed into the chair set out for him. He suddenly envisioned years spent not only doing spy work, but also fighting hornets, blowing up all the ugly red buildings in Zurg's complex, and maybe even showing down Zurg himself. To ruin the creature who had ruined him; that would be his goal.  
"Go back to the suit," commanded Nebula.  
Warp did so.  
"Push the button on the inside of the sleeve, there."  
The blue man pressed the button, and suddenly jerked his hands back as the suit rolled up into a ring, then rapidly unrolled, this time in the colors and design of a ranger suit. The whole suit faintly glowed blue as the left sleeve finished unrolling.  
Warp was at a loss for words. This thing was amazing. He picked up one sleeve-sure enough, there was a neat row of holes for his bionic arm's jets.  
"Tell the LGMs thank you, heartily. I'll be privileged to wear it."  
"Take it to your room. You should train in it a few times before you go to Planet Z."  
"Sure thing!"  
Warp had only a little time left for training in the bay before it was the rangers' turn. He wished he could watch them, if only to break the boredom.  
_Big deal. It isn't half as bad as it was at PC-7!_

...

Buzz Lightyear, Mira Nova, Booster Munchapper, and the Experimental (or was it _expendable_?_) _Ranger everyone called XR sat in one of the window booths at Cosmo's Diner.  
"I wonder when our food will show up," mused the Joadian ranger, giving an exaggerated sigh.  
"You can wait, Booster. It wouldn't hurt you not to eat quite so much," he remarked, and Booster sighed again.  
"I _have _been trying to diet. I really have. It's just so hard, especially when there's nothing to do but _traffic _duty."  
"Now, Booster, that isn't so bad. Traffic duty isn't always boring," Mira remarked, laughing under her breath as she remembered the incident when Rocket had been able to go chase Torque and Team Lightyear had been stuck on traffic duty. That hadn't been boring, all right.  
"You know, I really think it would be quite beneficial if they gave the nicest-looking girl rangers jobs as traffic regulators. I think ships would stop much faster that way, and I, for one, would be _much _more careful about checking each beacon."  
"Now, XR, you'll give Team Lightyear a bad reputation if you keep chasing after every skirt in sight! I know it was tough for you after 42, but you don't need a girlfriend any more than you did before she gained artificial intelligence," Booster remarked.  
"Oh, look at you. Mister perfect. Man, if you only knew how broken my heart was..." XR's words changed to unintelligible mutterings.  
"Here comes the food. Bickering is officially _over._" A wide grin spread over Buzz's face as Sally set the bowl of cosmic chili down on the table. He waited until the other rangers had their food (and oil in XR's case) in front of them, then picked up his spoon and started shoveling the deliciously mouth-burning chili into his mouth.  
XR, as he pulled the can toward himself, remarked, "Yesterday I was in the training bay, catching up on my lost knowledge of combat techniques, and I noticed something funny."  
"What?" asked Buzz, through a mouthful of cosmic chili. _Nothing funny's happened for nearly a year, in fact, barely anything remotely exciting._  
"There were _footprints _on the training bay floor. Just one person, obviously, but footprints nevertheless. It couldn't have been anyone who was allowed to train in there; everyone trains at the same time. I have my suspicions, though, _Buzz..._" XR's voice changed from a dramatic whisper to an accusing tone.  
"I haven't been in the training bay alone, I promise!"  
"Come on, Buzz, we know how much you miss the excitement."  
"I do miss it, but I have _not _been in the training bay." He directed a scathing glance at XR.  
"Well, I didn't imagine them, that's for sure."  
There was silence for the rest of the meal.

Warp cursed when he saw the footprints on his return to the training bay. He still hadn't been able to get rid of the habit; swearing when something bad happened had become part of him when he had become Agent Z.  
_Big blue lout! _Warp hit himself in the forehead. Why had he had to go out again, right after the cleaning bots had finished sweeping up his mess? Such a simple mistake, and what a big one. If there had been anyone observant enough to notice the footprints in the bay during training, there would probably be questions.  
Warp didn't feel much like training for the rest of the day; he read a little in the ranger handbook, not that it would help him any, as he wasn't really going to be a ranger.  
The sun was completely blocked by Capital Planet by the time he finally got up the courage to go out into the training bay.  
It had the appearance of the inside of the carcass of a huge monster, with the faint starlight slanting down through the windows near the ceiling.  
Warp jetted up, fully dressed in his new suit. He had only tried out the bounty hunter version of his suit so far. Pushing a button, he allowed the suit to convert to his 'ghost' outfit. It glowed a faint blue in the dark room; good enough to scare a grub out of his shoes, Warp reasoned. He pushed the button on his arm and closed his eyes, happily jetting forward, pretending he was on Planet Z, circling in the reddish clouds of the atmosphere, driving all of Zurg's sentient minions nuts.  
He was so caught up in his dream that he didn't notice the coming wall until it was too late. Warp steeled himself for the impact, shutting his eyes tight. It never came. He opened his eyes, shocked. What had happened?  
Looking around him, the startled man saw that he was just outside the training bay, jetting rapidly away from Star Command, his arm carrying him. He quickly pushed the button and turned on his jetpack, flying back to the wall he had just apparently gone through. There was no sign of his passing through it; no hole, not even a dent.  
_What happened?_  
Suddenly, Warp thought of something.  
_No. It can't be they've come up with something for that too!_  
He flew a few feet back from the wall, then headed straight for it, bracing himself for impact just before he reached it.  
This time he heard the sound; a distinctive, if faint, hum as he passed through the wall.  
When Warp opened his eyes, he was in the training bay.  
_I can not only pretend to be a ghost, I can also 'ghost' through things! Y'know, now I kind of understand that Tangean Royal supremacy thing. It does make you feel pretty self-confident, this ability to glide through objects. I'm not going to assume the other version of my suit has this ability; I don't want a headache._  
Warp left the training bay with renewed confidence and spirits.

Thanks for reading! So now you've read about the new development to Warp's job-but what will happen when XR gets suspicious? You can wait to find out until... well, until I get too tired of waiting to write.  
Thanks again, and please review!

-Birchtail


	6. Secrets

When Team Lightyear entered the bay the next morning, there seemed to be nothing unusual at first glance. XR immediately began scanning the floor, going back and forth systematically so he could be sure he'd checked the whole floor.  
"No footprints, team, no footprints. But I _still _say something kooky's going on. I'm positive I saw them yesterday."  
"I do think something kooky _is _going on-with either your eyes or your motherboard," remarked Buzz.  
"Come on! I'm not crazy! I _saw _those footprints."  
"Well, now that you've wasted a tidy little chunk of our time, let's go get to work."  
XR followed the rest of his team, throwing his hands up in the air as he protested.  
Warp turned away from the little window in the wall of his room and closed it by pushing the button next to it. There was no doubt about it; he had to be more careful in the future or he would be found out.  
_Stupid secrecy! When will they finally _officially _mark me as dead?_  
He realized how silly that sounded and gave a laugh. At least he didn't have any relatives or friends who would worry about him- _Laina!_  
After thinking for a moment, though, it didn't seem too plausible that she'd care very much about him. She hadn't cared enough to visit him at PC-7 after that first time; it probably wouldn't strike her too hard to hear that he was dead.  
Later that day, when the training bay had been empty for a long time, Warp slipped into his new suit and concentrated, ghosting through the wall of his room into the training bay. This time he wouldn't make any mess; he'd just practice using the jets on his arm and ghosting through objects.  
Upon entering the training bay, he activated the jetpack on his back and pushed the button on his arm. He headed full speed for the west wall of the training bay, concentrating right before phasing through it.  
Warp turned off the jets on his arm and remained stationary just outside the training bay, thinking.  
_In a few days I'll be helping five of Zurg's employees defect, _he thought. _I wonder if this version of my suit would come in handy then. I kind of wish I could use it in my first mission. Oh, well. Just as long as my cover doesn't get blown by anybody, I'll be happy._

Warp knew he had to practice with his bounty hunter suit, so he spent several hours per day every day of the remaining two he had before he had to leave training. He was regaining his touch as Agent Z; in fact, it wasn't _nearly _so hard for him now.  
The day before he was to leave for Zurgspace, Commander Nebula called him into the briefing room.  
"D'you think you're ready to go?" inquired the commander.  
"Yep. By the way, that suit is really cool-love how you can ghost in it. Oh, and something I was going to ask you: can I use it on the trip to Planet Z?"  
"Well, we're making the press statement tomorrow, so you should be safe by the time you get there. Just warning you-don't let anyone think that you're both a bounty hunter and your ghost. That would _not _bode well for your future as a plant in the dark side."  
"Sneaky is what Warp Darkmatter does best. Or... whatever I'm called now."  
"Your alias will be Shatten Nascost."  
Warp couldn't help but say it. "That's stupid."  
"Shatten is German for shadow; Nascost is a modification of the Italian word for _hidden_."  
"It's still stupid."  
"Well, I'm sorry that we don't have more time to come up with amazing names for our bounty hunters."  
"Why couldn't you figure out something like Shiv Katall? That was cool."  
"Try not to care too much. You'll be pretty busy helping those Zurg employees defect."  
"Ok," Warp admitted. It was pretty silly to haggle over an alias.

Buzz and company were at Cosmos again, crammed into the same booth as last time.  
Sally had already arrived to take their order by the time XR spoke.  
"I tell you, I _saw _those footprints!"  
Buzz and Mira exchanged glances.  
"Maybe you should go see Dr. Animus. Or the eye doctor," suggested Booster. The comment was put in a friendly way, but XR didn't take the criticism well.  
"I'm _fine, _I insist!" he retorted, crossing his arms.  
"Well, I'm not," said Mira, who was holding her head in her hands.  
"What happened?"  
"The LGMs had to do a study on Tangean powers for some reason, and I'm the only Tangean in the station, so I was a natural subject. Man, that helmet they put on me to study my mind patterns sure gave me a headache!"  
"Those LGMs have been acting weird lately," Buzz commented. "They were really busy yesterday, working on something I'm not allowed to know about. Those little green beans are getting pretty secretive."  
"Dad, too. Whatever the LGMs have been working on, he's in on it, and he wouldn't tell me a thing when I asked him." XR gave a melodramatic sigh. "Do dads normally keep secrets like this?"  
"Come on, XR, you're being silly," said Mira, then groaned. "Ouch! My head is punishing me for speaking now, so I'll be quiet," she whispered.  
The food arrived, and there were a few minutes of silence while everyone dug in.  
"Do any of you get a newspaper?" asked Buzz.  
"I don't," said Booster. "Everything's so _depressing. _Nothing but news of arrests, calamities, and awful things that are about to happen."  
Mira didn't say anything, so XR spoke up.  
"I don't get a paper, but I do have this slick little datapad that keeps me up-to-date on the happenings. Now why, exactly, do you find reality troubling, Booster?"  
"Aw, come on. It's just that life without missions is pretty depressing as it is."  
"Right on, except when you're spending the time on Mahambas 6, sunning."  
"You can't even get a tan, XR!" Booster giggled. The atmosphere of the booth was happy, relaxed. Buzz loved his team.  
"Can I have a look at that datapad?" Buzz asked. "I need to get caught up on current events."  
He took the datapad XR handed him, then turned it on and looked at the events in the headlines.  
Buzz suddenly dropped the datapad on the table. His world turned gray; the banter of his team only a moment before a memory in the echoing hall of his mind. He crumpled back into his seat, his eyes wide in shock. His teammates stared at him, open-mouthed. As usual, XR was the first to get his wits back.  
"What's wrong, Buzz?"  
"Warp... No..." Buzz's muffled sobs could barely be heard as he leapt from his seat and ran out of Cosmo's.  
"Whoa, what on earth got him so badly?" XR stretched out an arm for the datapad. He read the headlines aloud: "Infamous Criminal Agent Z Dies of Natural Causes".  
"But isn't that kind of a _good _thing? I mean, he caused us plenty of trouble."  
"He was Buzz's former team member." Mira, headache forgotten, sat bolt upright. "I've got to go talk to him."  
Mira leapt up from the table. Booster, eyes wide, remarked, "I'm kinda not surprised. I didn't think he was meant to live in a prison."  
"Well, prisoner type or no, now we have one less villain to worry about."  
"Yeah, and one grieving team member!"

Mira ran across the ship parking lot outside Cosmo's, making for 42 as fast as she could go. Buzz didn't deal well with grief alone.  
She rapidly scaled the ladder on 42's side, then entered the hatch at the top and closed it, retracting the ladder. Buzz didn't need any tactless teammates bothering him just now, especially not XR.  
_That insensitive bot!_  
Mira walked to the captain's seat. Buzz sat in it, his shoulders shaking. She sat down in the seat next to him, putting her hand on his shoulder.  
"I-I'm sorry, Buzz." It sounded so forced, so stiff.  
"It's OK, Mira. Don't let it get you down, too." Buzz turned to her and raised his head, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.  
"We all care about you, Buzz."  
"Thanks." The team's captain turned away again. Mira knew he wanted to be alone, so she got up to leave.

Warp was ready to go. He paced near the door of his room, waiting for someone to come pick him up for his briefing. He would leave before the sun started peeking around the edge of Capital Planet.  
_Maybe I'll just go for a little fly outside the training bay, _he thought. There wasn't too much risk in doing that, since no one would be able to see him except from the high windows of the training bay. And there wouldn't be any rangers training in there until after he'd left for Planet Z.  
Slipping into his new suit, he pushed the button in the sleeve to convert it to its 'ghost' form. He walked out through the door, then pressed the button to activate his jet-arm. He happily flew across the wide expanse of the training bay and out the wall of the space station.  
_I can't get over how cool this is, _he thought. _A jet-arm and a suit that gives me the powers of a Tangean. _

Inside the space station, Buzz pressed the button to enter the training bay. He was tired, but he hadn't been able to get any sleep. He had to go to the training bay; remember the days when he and Warp had trained here.  
Suddenly, his eyes caught a brief flicker of movement outside the row of windows at the top of the bay. He jetted to the top of the bay and looked carefully out the window, the laser on his arm ready to fire at any sign of danger.  
The thing jetted past again -wait-jetted? Buzz looked closer, his ranger instinct prepared to lash out against any foe.  
It flew up, right outside the window, and Buzz shook his head in disbelief, backing away from the high row of windows.  
_Warp! _  
There was indeed a blue-skinned man there, looking exactly like he had before he had gotten rid of his ranger identity, except for a few things. His suit glowed a faint bluish color, and as Buzz watched, he realized that he was using one of his arms to jet around in the space just outside Star Command.  
_If Warp had a ghost, it wouldn't be wearing a space ranger suit. I'm seeing things. _He turned away from the window and jetted to the door of the training bay, opening it and closing it behind him as fast as he could. He was really going space-wacky now; Warp was dead. He must be imagining it all.  
But whether he was imagining it or not, he had to talk to his team.

"Buzz, I really think you need to take some time off," Mira commented, after he'd told them what he thought he'd seen.  
"I know. Maybe it is time to take all that piled-up vacation. I'm not doing any good here at Star Command anyway, not with Zurg practically dormant as he is."  
"Ah, here I come, Mahambas 6!" XR kissed his glass helmet.  
"And here I come, bunzel harvest. I don't want to get that fever again." Booster shuddered.  
"I guess I'll just stay here. I'm sure I can find plenty to keep me busy around Star Command until you guys are back."

Warp leaned back in the seat of his new ship. He was well over halfway to Planet Z now.  
_I love this ship, _he thought. It was much different from any ship he'd ever flown before. It resembled his old ship somewhat, except it wasn't as boxy. It also had a high-tech cloaking system, and would convert from his Carbon identity to his ghost identity with a push of a button-a hidden button. The ship's high level of sophistication suited Warp.  
He was tired of waiting; he pushed the hyperspeed button and was barely able to stop the ship in time to land it on the dock at Planet Z. There were several other ships parked here; a huge dreadnought; a few smaller ships, a spare hoverthrone. Then he saw something that stopped him in his tracks-his ship. It was exactly the same; red and purple; square and generally odd-looking. Warp shook his he would _not _go over to see it for old times' sake.  
Warp pushed the button to open the door on the side of his new ship, then descended the invisible side. He wouldn't push his luck by leaving the ship visible; he knew Emperor Zurg's weaknesses. One of them was that he was pretty trigger-happy; if he saw something unfamiliar, his first course of action was usually to blow it up (unless it screamed _evil,_ which, come to think of it, Warp's ship did).  
Oh well. He still wouldn't take any chances.

Leaping, catlike, to the ground, Warp ran to the red-stained wall of one of Zurg's buildings and pressed himself against it.  
_This is a lot easier with a bionic arm_.  
He moved carefully along the wall for a few feet, then he heard the heavy footsteps of hornets and ducked back into a space between two buildings. His chest heaved as he heard them pass. This wasn't easy for him, even as Agent Nascost. The year in PC-7 had taken its toll on his self-confidence, and he was honestly worried that he would get blown up before he got to the palace.  
He watched the hornets file by, then carefully edged along the wall again.  
_I'm tired of this! _He activated his jetpack and lifted off, dodging huge buildings as he headed for Zurg's palace. Warp still remembered the way, but he wanted to get there faster, so he activated his jetpack and dived up, out of the way of an oncoming building, so he could get a good view of the 'city', if you could call it that. The biggest building wasn't hard to spot, and he dove toward it again, turning off his jetpack just as he landed in front of it. He didn't want to make Zurg have the least suspicion that he was a spy.  
Sure enough, an army of hornets descended around him within seconds. He didn't resist as two of them took his arms.  
Zurg arrived a few seconds after the hornets did, seated on his hoverthrone.  
"Hello, Evil Emperor Zurg!" said Warp, deeply appreciating the voice disguiser that was hidden in his helmet.  
"Who are you? You do look quite evil."  
"I'm here to request a job."  
"Hm. I might just have a place for you. Are you a bounty hunter, by any chance?"  
"Yes."  
"Could you serve as a top fighting agent as well?"  
"Perhaps, but the pay'd better be pretty good." Warp smirked inside the helmet. At least he'd be earning something, even if he couldn't keep it.  
"Well, I'm afraid you'd have to share your pay. I have another agent."  
"What!"  
"Of course! I couldn't have gone without one all this time! I started searching for one as soon as that stupid Darkmatter gave up without a fight."  
Warp turned off the voice converter inside his helmet and gave a long laugh, heard only by himself.  
"Well, who is he? I want to know who I'll have to share my salary with."  
"She," corrected the emperor. Zurg pushed a button, and a vidphone screen came out of the hoverthrone right in front of him. "Vellie, come on out. There's someone here I want you to meet."  
In a second, the door behind Zurg's throne opened, and a woman walked out, clad in a red-and-purple suit. She wore no helmet over her long medium-brown hair with a touch of red that glinted in the dust-laden atmosphere of Planet Z. Her eyes were a rich shade of gray-green, and her skin was a pale azure-a Tangean Royal.  
_Whatever would a Royal be doing here?_  
She leveled her plasma blaster at him instinctively. Zurg said, "Calm down; he's almost my employee already."  
The woman lowered her gun, but kept a wary eye on the black-suited bounty hunter. "Are you sure we can trust him?" she asked of Zurg.  
"Of course! Silly girls. They're always imagining elaborate schemes taking place in my very palace."  
Warp turned off the voice converter again and snickered.

"What's your name?" Zurg asked him.  
"Shatten Nascost."

"Nascost, meet Velette Sheheimnis. Sheheimnis, meet Mr. Nascost."  
The woman stepped carefully down the stairs from the door of Zurg's palace. She approached Warp, but stood a few feet away from him, her eyes still not quite trusting.  
Warp held out a hand. After a glance at Zurg, she put her hand in his.  
A strange burning sensation covered the palm of Warp's hand, and he let go of hers awkwardly. Velette's eyes narrowed, and she stepped back a bit, turning her head as if to say something to the emperor. The purple-robed cyborg waved her away, and she stepped back, her mind still busy over the arrival of the new employee.  
"Well, as far as I'm concerned, you're hired. You can get to know Vellie  
better out here, then come on in and I'll give you your first assignment."  
_Awkward,_ thought Warp after Zurg zoomed back into the palace on his hoverthrone. Sheheimnis immediately pulled out her gun again. "I think we both know I don't trust you."  
"Seems like it."  
"Are you to be trusted? The only way I can prove your trustworthiness is when Zurg assigns us both to a mission. I can only take your word for it until then."  
"I'm trustworthy."  
_At least to you, _he added silently. He had the feeling that this was a woman who, not unlike himself in his Agent Z days, stayed Zurg's employee for the pay and the excitement. Warp also sensed that she felt the beginnings of the discontent he had when he had worked for Zurg-she acted too restless to be perfectly happy with her job.  
"Well, do you want to get acquainted with Planet Z? I can take you on a tour if you're up to it."  
"Of course, madame. After you."  
"Quite the gentleman, eh?" A sudden smirk on her face, Sheheimnis pushed a button to activate her jetpack and zoomed off into the atmosphere. Warp was quick in following.  
"Fast, too, are you?" She pressed another button, and before Warp had a chance to call after her, she was gone over the horizon.  
_Didn't think I'd utilize the speed boost button on my suit on the first day._  
He pressed a button on his suit, and his jetpack went into superspeed mode.  
By the time they had circled back around to the 'city' where Zurg had his palace, both of them were panting from the sudden stress, and they could do nothing but land and wait while their jetpacks cooled.  
"You're pretty good at flying," said the Tangean.  
"Thanks. You're good at it too."  
"You're welcome."

Only the blue-skinned woman's smile could be seen, but Warp was smiling too.

Ok, so in this part of the story, you get to see some of Warp as Agent Nascost-and you also meet Sheheimnis. She wasn't actually meant to be in this chapter, or in the story, for this matter, once I started writing it; but when I came to where she now makes her appearance-well, Warp needs a love interest and fellow adventurer.  
I have a sort-of background for Velette; think I'll do a character bio before the next chapter.  
Anyway, thanks for reading, and please review!


	7. Back on the Job

That evening, after Velette had taken him on a _real _tour of Planet Z, he went back to his ship.  
He had told Zurg and Velette that he would be heading back to his moon and ducked out of the palace.  
Now he was sitting in his ship, readying for takeoff. Pulling on the lever that controlled the thruster, he launched into the atmosphere, rapidly leaving its reddish dust behind.  
Warp took off his helmet and rubbed a blue hand over his face. _I'm tired, but I don't need sleep as much as I need to try out that ghost suit on Planet Z. Guess I'll just put my ship in orbit around that little planet there and leave for Planet Z. _  
He pushed a tiny button on the dashboard. The ship collapsed and transformed easily around him, and he gave a deep sigh of contentment. This was life as he liked it; being a secret agent again; but still able to participate in some good old all-out combat.  
Warp took off his glove and pushed the button inside his sleeve to transform his suit. It rolled up neatly around his middle, then unrolled over his body again. He pulled the throttle back, expertly parking the ghost-ship in the orbit of the uninhabited planet in front of him, then pushed the square button on his dashboard that retracted the glass-and metal top of his ship. Warp pushed the button on his arm and dived out of it, taking a moment to admire the ship before he headed for Planet Z. It was a very nice ship; it looked much like a more streamlined version of one of Star Command's shuttles.  
He pushed the button to activate his other jetpack and zoomed into space.

It wasn't far to Planet Z. Suffice to say that Warp was feeling a little intimidated when he arrived, even if he wouldn't dare admit it to himself.  
Hornets tromped the alleys and trails of Planet Z day and night, and Zurg had many other defenses for the red-and-purple planet. It had been pretty easy for Warp, who had become experienced in such things as Agent Z, to take out the first defenses. They were the buoys that guarded the edges of Zurgspace. The blue man had had to do nothing more than shoot a couple of lasers at them from a far enough distance; they blew up instantly. That was the problem with all of Zurg's war machines, defenses, and weapons-the grubs never seemed to be able to come up with something durable enough to withstand Star Command lasers. In the end, the war robots of the biggest bad guy in the galaxy were more vulnerable to a single laser than a Karnosian beast was to ten. Warp grinned deviously; he knew Planet Z like the back of his hand.  
Now he was waiting over the surface of Planet Z for the hornets to dissipate enough for him to score a direct hit on the weak spot of Zurg's complex-the munitions plant. It had never made sense to him why Zurg defended that building so poorly.

_Maybe it was because no one knew where it was. _  
_Well, I do. _Warp grinned again and activated the jets on his arm, diving down between two of the buildings on the very edge of the complex. Here was the munitions plant, buried under at least four tons of red, dusty dirt. He knew the password for the trapdoor would have been changed since his imprisonment, but that didn't matter to him. Warp knew plenty about hacking.  
Pushing an unassuming-looking button on his ranger suit, he took a tiny technotick out of a small compartment in the lower part of the torso of his suit.  
"Dig in." He put the technotick on the numberpad. It found the combination and rapidly tapped it in with its little metal feet. Warp turned around just in time to see a trapdoor open in the ground, raising a cloud of noxious red dust. He had no reason to cough, though; his helmet was up. Striding through the dust, he descended into the hole in the ground, feeling almost claustrophobic from the combined dust and the tight quarters of the staircase that descended into the plant.  
As soon as he was in the plant, Warp shrugged his shoulders back, ready for combat. There should be a few hornets to blow up here.  
_Ah, there they are._  
He aimed his wrist laser and fired, blasting the hornets within a matter of seconds.  
_I'm better with a laser than Zurg is with any disintegrator ray. _  
He relished the sweet taste of victory, however small it was.  
Rapidly moving to one of the huge vats of ammunition, he blasted a hole directly above himself before using the jets on his arm to fly out of the plant and firing on the vat from the surface. The resulting explosion produced a series of chain reactions in the rest of the vats. Warp dived away from the scene of the chaos, readying himself to blast a hole in the side of Zurg's palace and get the defectors. This way he wouldn't have to risk his other identity at all.

The grubs were busy at work in the large room next to the west wall of Zurg's palace. Four of them were whistling happily, but under their breath, lest they be suspected. They were very happy because any day now, they would gain their freedom; any day now, they would be good citizens of the Galactic Alliance.  
Suddenly, a hole appeared in the wall right in front of several grubs who were working on some kind of new weapon of mass destruction. The little blue minions scattered, groaning in dismay. Their groans quickly changed to screams of terror as they saw Warp Darkmatter, formerly Agent Z, zoom into the room, using jets that appeared to be part of his arm. His _whole _arm, not the old one as it used to be.  
The four grubs who were to be rescued froze, suddenly unsure of whether to run for their lives or stay. A brainpod wheeled into the room, knocking aside some fleeing grubs, as he wheeled straight for Warp.  
"Thank goodness you've come! You surely took long enou..." his voice trailed off as he saw Warp in his ranger uniform, with his arm as it used to be.  
"I'll be taking you off Planet Z." Warp confidently swooped forward, grabbing up the four grubs in one arm and taking the heavy brainpod with the other. He activated his jet-arm and lifted off, heading straight out of the workroom to the chaos outside. There were no more explosions, but there were dozens of hornets milling about in confusion around the munitions plant.  
_Exactly my intent,_ thought Warp as he headed for the planet his ship was orbiting.

...

The brainpod got his wits back first once the defectors were all safely inside the ship.  
"But you're dead! The newspaper printed it!" he declared, pointing a robotic finger at Warp.  
"Do I look dead?" Warp responded, pulling on the throttle to take them out of orbit and back to Star Command.  
"N-no_,_" said the brainpod, obviously more than a little weirded out.  
_This situation calls for hyperspeed,_ thought Warp, and he pushed the button on the dashboard. The stars around the ghost ship blurred as it shot through space toward Star Command.  
"Where are you taking us?" inquired one of the grubs.  
"Where does it look like?" asked Warp, turning off hyperspeed just long enough to drop the grubs and brainpod on top of a hatch near the landing bay. He'd been informed that they'd be picked up within five minutes of being dropped.  
The brainpod and grubs watched, still shocked, as the ghost ship disappeared among the distant stars.

Warp turned off hyperspeed and relaxed, pushing the buttons on both his suit and his ship to turn them back into his agent identity. Now for some sleep. He was tired; it had been a long day and a long night, and he had to go back to Star Command for briefing in the morning.  
Two hours later, the black-pyjama-clad man changed to his ghost identity and headed back to Star Command. It was still too early for most rangers to be awake, so he landed on the hatch where he was supposed to wait at exactly the right time. It opened right away, and he maneuvered his ship into the secret landing bay.  
The squad of rangers assigned to him took his elbows and marched him down the hall toward the briefing room.  
_It's good I'm getting this briefing now,_ thought Warp. He was afraid his bounty hunter identity would have nothing to do once he got to Planet Z, and Zurg might get suspicious.  
The hatch to the briefing room closed behind him, and he stood facing the big table in the briefing room.  
"Well, Warp, how did it go? We got the defectors safely, but which identity did you use?"  
"It went pretty smoothly. I used my ghost identity to blow up a munitions plant, and I took the grubs and brainpod in the resulting chaos."  
"Very good, Warp. If you were a real ranger, you'd get an award for that."  
"I _am _a real ranger! Sort of..."  
"Well, in any case, you've done well. But we can't keep you here for long. I'm going to ask you another really big favor. Will you forget some of your training for a while?"  
"I see this time. So that's your plan for keeping me from really doing any _work _for Zurg until it's time for a big strike against him!"  
"Yeah."  
Warp thought of Sheheimnis, and instinctively was happy that he needed to be trained.

...

Once again, Warp was on his way to Planet Z. This time, he didn't have any mission in particular, other than to convince Zurg that it was worth his while training him.  
_That should be a mission in and of itself,_ he thought wryly. _At least that Ve-Vel-Velvet or whatever her name is will probably be in charge of training me. _  
By the time Warp touched down on Planet Z, Zurg was already waiting for him on his hoverthrone, with what's-her-name standing behind him. Warp sucked in his breath as he saw her. He was getting used to doing that of late, and it bothered him. He had gotten used to the sight of pretty ladies, even gorgeous ones; had surrounded himself with them. But there was something different about this one. A strange shrewdness, coupled with a pinched worry, was on her face, and she hadn't acted coy with Warp like so many other girls did when they saw the handsome blue-skinned man.  
She wasn't even especially pretty, and that was what struck him. Sheheimnis' plain light brown hair was bound tightly into a bun at the back of her head, and some loose hairs floated about her head, indicating that she hadn't much time to spend in front of a mirror. She couldn't have been much younger than himself. Maybe  
Now, she stepped forward a bit, ready to protect the purple-clad cyborg seated on the hoverthrone.  
Warp left his ship, taking his time getting down the ladder on the side, purposely slipping a little on his way down. He would have to look clumsy enough to be worthy of training.  
"He slipped," remarked the blue woman to Zurg, a harsh edge to her voice. Warp shrugged apologetically.  
"I'm sorry, but I might require a little training. However, I think I could be quite useful to you. My identity is not known, as Ms. Sheheimnis' obviously is," he remarked, with a pointed glance at the Tangean. She shot ice daggers at him with her eyes, then looked down, wrapping her arms around herself as if abashed.  
_Since when were Zurg's agents shy?_ There was more to this woman than he knew, and he planned to find out what.  
"True, true," said Zurg, resting his helmet thoughtfully on his metal fingers. "If you are a good learner, I'm sure she could teach you to be a good agent for the evil side." Zurg gave one of his exaggeratedly evil laughs.  
"I learn fast." _True enough, _thought Warp.  
"Well, then, what are we waiting for, I suppose?" said the blue woman, still inexplicably incensed at Agent Nascost's arrival. Zurg pushed a button on his hoverthrone and went back to his palace. Velette Sheheimnis and Shatten Nascost were left standing on the launch pad, neither of them trusting each other and yet each curious about the other.  
"So, what's the first stage of training?" Warp broke the awkward silence.  
"I've never trained another agent before," said Sheheimnis, returning the launch pad to its former uncomfortable state.  
Warp tried another conversation-starter. "How long have you been an agent?"  
Sheheimnis instantly had a plasma cannon off her belt and aimed at him. "No one asks me about my life," she said in a deadly tone, though her voice shook a little, and Warp couldn't think why.  
_Well, that wasn't a good question._ He put his hands up high in the air and shook his head rapidly. Warp knew how dangerous a plasma cannon could be.  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ask-" that sounded so lame. He put his hands down again. "I won't ask again. You know, I don't like the idea of being blown up... could you please point that thing elsewhere?"  
She lowered the cannon, her eyes narrowing as she did so. Sheheimnis was evidently not a woman to be toyed with.  
Warp (no, wait, Shatten) was getting a bit annoyed with this. He decided to take the daring route.  
"Now, if you're not going to train me, I'll just leave and go work for someone else. I'm sure there are plenty of jobs for an aspiring bounty hunter like myself elsewhere in the galaxy."  
Fear crossed Velette's blue face, quickly replaced by determination. "You'll stay right here, sir."  
"All day?"  
She hung the small plasma cannon back on her belt, then, picking up a stunner, walked to where Warp was standing and trained the gun on his shoulder. Of course, she had no way of knowing it was bionic and wouldn't be bothered by the gun. Warp was happy to leave her in ignorance. The less your opponent knew about you, the easier it was to win.  
Velette turned, still keeping the gun pointed at his arm as she walked down the ramp from the landing pad. Warp followed her obediently. It wouldn't do to be sassy with the determined Tangean.  
As their trail wended through the dusty alleys of Zurg's compound, presumably on the way to the first stage of Warp's 'training', he took the opportunity to study Sheheimnis' suit. It was designed very nearly the same as his had been before he lost his arm; purple armor on her torso, and red pants with boots to match. Sheheimnis herself looked somehow out-of-place in the thing, though it was designed to fit a woman. She had a look to her face, a mannerism, that made her appear almost... amateurish, at first glance.  
Warp knew there was a lot to learn about this disturbed Tangean, and he intended to learn it.


	8. Paper Giants

Sheheimnis led him through the seemingly endless streets of Zurg's city, not stopping to take a breather. Warp found himself panting slightly, a bit winded at the walk. His year in prison had taken a bit of the hard-earned fitness out of him.  
The Tangean woman turned as she heard his breath begin coming hard and fast and re-trained her gun on his shoulder, her green eyes cold as ice. She didn't waste any words on him, simply narrowing her eyes and re-training the stunner on his shoulder-the other one. Warp winced. He'd better try not to look so easily tired; it would hurt if she decided to pull the trigger.  
She turned again, continuing her staunch, steady march toward the place he would train at. Warp had never needed training before his Agent Z days, as he had gotten all he needed at Star Command as a space ranger. He didn't know where he was going, but honestly didn't care. Just the simple routine, the daily work of training would make him feel good.  
Looking at the stiff back of the Tangean's neck, he refigured his thought. _Well, it might not feel so good if I do something stupid. She looks as if she's on a hair-trigger._  
As if she had heard his thoughts-maybe she had-Sheheimnis turned again.  
She hadn't, Warp concluded as she spoke.  
"We're here," she said simply, walking the last few steps backward into a small clearing in the buildings.  
"So what do I do first, Velvet?" asked Warp.  
"First, you call me Ms. Sheheimnis. My name is Velette, not _Velvet._" She spoke the last word with a hint of scorn.  
"I'll teach you how to properly aim and fire here," she explained as she pointed to a hit-absorbing target on a nearby building.  
"Gun?"  
"No plasma blasters, _new guy. _For now, you can use your own, if you have one," she said, glancing at his suit, not noticing any weapons.  
Warp lifted one arm and pressed the arm just above the circle of lasers, purposefully aiming for the edge of the target. He was itching to show her just how good a shot he was, but he knew that couldn't happen. Ah, well. Tonight he could change into his ghost identity and blow up some Planet Z buildings, being the best shot he could be.  
The woman sighed, an impatient, irritated sigh. "Don't... why... Zurg ... train you," she muttered under her breath.  
Warp politely pretended not to hear.

...

Back at his ship on the launchpad, Warp sighed deeply as he removed his heavy, hot helmet. The climate on Planet Z was not conducive to comfort, especially when one wore a suit for the purpose of disguise. He pushed the button on the inside of his sleeve, instantly relaxing as the suit rolled up around his middle over his undersuit and unrolled the ghost suit's cool inner surface against his body.  
He shifted a bit in the black leather seat of the ship, pushing the hyperspeed button to blast him into space. He would drop his ship in the orbit of the planet he had left it in the night before.  
Bits of thought from the busy day of training filtered through his mind, and he considered the woman's -Velette, wasn't it- sparse, harsh words as he parked his ship in the small planet's orbit.  
_"No one asks me about my life." _

_"Don't try me."_

_"I'm having a hard enough time as it is! Just point the gun at the target! Don't even try for the center; just try to hit it somewhere."_  
Memories from Warp's own past overcame him as he thought of the Tangean and her cursed lifework. He rested his forehead on the dashboard. Would he never be able to forget? Sometimes he wished he had stayed in prison... if for no other reason, just to rid himself of the guilt.  
He pressed the hidden button and watched his ship fold and reform around him. There was some solace in playing Ranger again, almost as if he was able to travel back in time and relive the past, except this time around he was doing it all right. He knew he would never be able to make up for what he had done, but at least he could delude himself into thinking he could when he fought Zurg as his own ghost.  
Warp's blue eyes narrowed as he walked to the back of his ship, toward the launch tube, then activated his arm's jetpack and flew straight for Planet Z.

Velette stirred under the covers on her bed in the small, red-walled room in which she slept. She couldn't sleep again; dreams of her brother had plagued her. Her brother had just dived into the core of Planet Z, and she, panicked, had ran to dive in to get him, but the arms of a million hornets had held her back, and her feet were sluggish beyond reason. She had awakened to the sound of her own screaming.  
Sitting up on the side of her bed, she ran a hand over the slightly-frizzed, tired-looking surface of her hair. It was still tied together at the back of her head. She reached toward the light and waited a few seconds for the dim, bare fusion bulb to brighten enough for her to see by.  
Moving to the tiny mirror on the wall above the small metal sink and faucet, she unpinned the hair and shook her head, allowing it to flow down her back to the place where she cut it every year, just below her shoulders. She picked up a brush from the red canvas bag on the floor.  
Wincing as it struck the knots in her long, untended hair, Velette ran it over her scalp and down her back to the ends. She had to admit, it felt good to take care of her hair for once. She hadn't given it a good brushing in such a long time.  
_Hadn't had the time to spend in front of a mirror,_ she corrected herself. There was little time for much else but conquering the universe for Zurg when one was Agent Z.  
Her green eyes iced over with anger, then softened and hardened again with determination as she thought of her reasons for being here. She could have left long ago; gone with Star Cruiser 42 on one of their many visits here. Sneaking off places had always come easy to her, and she knew it would have been a breeze to leave Planet Z.  
The young Tangean woman didn't care about the money either, especially since she wasn't paid to hold the post of Zurg's top agent. She gritted her teeth and yanked the brush through an especially tough knot, uncaring of the pain. The wound in her heart hurt far overshadowed the sting of a few pulled hairs.  
Instead of pay, she had agreed on serving Zurg as agent for seven years in exchange for the freedom of her brother. Though she would never be sure if the Evil Emperor would hold up his end of the deal, it was her only hope. The ghost-proof shield that surrounded her brother was made with top-secret technology. Zurg didn't even have the designs on his main computer server. And it was unbreakable-by any standard. Velette was a little afraid to use her plasma blaster, since she might blast her brother as well as the shield, but she had high suspicions that the plasma ray wouldn't do more than bounce off of it.  
There was nothing she could do but be a good agent for seven years. And if Zurg asked for more than that... she would have no choice but to oblige him. Her brother was all she had after her parents' shuttle had crashed on Planet Z, killing them and destroying the shuttle. Zurg had seen her and cleverly chased her brother into the planet's surface, forcing him to remain ghosted into it with a ghost-proof shield around the space in which he was trapped.  
He had offered Velette a choice: go back to the floating palaces of Tangea in a shuttle he would provide, and go alone, or stay and work for him for seven years and bring her brother back with her when she returned.  
It had been no choice at all.

Velette switched off the light in the room and opened the door, stepping out into a swirl of red dust and the sound of a building exploding.

...

Warp heard the faint sound of a jetpack zooming closer to him just a second too late.  
In the next instant, his left arm was pinned behind his back and he was spiraling toward the surface of the red planet. A fist, firm even if it was small, smashed squarely into the back of his head, and he pushed the button to put up his helmet with a bionic finger. The next fist came right through his helmet to land another punch, and he instantly knew who he was facing.  
He twisted his left arm from Sheheimnis' grip with difficulty, then used it to activate his right jet-arm.  
She lost her grip around his neck, sending her flying down toward the building that was next to explode. Warp's eyes widened, and he changed directions, flying down under her just in time to get her out of the way before the red building exploded.  
_She's unconscious, _he contemplated as he tucked the small woman under his left arm and used the other arm to fly away from the explosions.  
He quickly discovered otherwise as she grabbed his left arm, yanking hard enough to dislocate the elbow. "You know your stuff," he told her as he tightened the muscle in time to avoid her clever attempt to disable her opponent.  
Suddenly, she looked up at his face, so close to hers, since he was still holding her loosely by his left side, and she gasped, pushing away from him.  
"You're dead!" she exclaimed.  
"Do I look dead?" he asked for the second time in two days.  
The woman dived down toward the surface, zipping among the unexploded buildings, undoubtedly on her way to Zurg's palace to report.  
Warp sighed and activated the jets in his bionic arm, zooming out of the polluted atmosphere on his way back to the ghost ship.

...

Mira and Buzz sat facing each other in their favorite booth at Cosmo's. It was the weekend, and they hadn't any special assignments, so they had time off. Booster had gone to visit his parents on Joad over the weekend, and XR had just left to tend to some unnamed business. Buzz assumed it had something to do with Tradeworld and poker chips, but he was too tired to interfere.  
"Buzz," said Mira, toying with her napkin, balling it up, then smoothing it out, then doing it again, "I know you miss Warp, but shouldn't you be feeling better by now?"  
"Yeah, I know I should. But I can't help but remember that time I saw him outside the training bay."  
"That wasn't him, Buzz. That was your mind. It's happened to me before..." Mira's voice trailed off as she remembered her past. She had shared it with Buzz, though not many others knew much about her days as a young princess-especially the days before she'd lost her mother.  
"I thought I saw my mother twice. Once in the throne room, right after she died, then again, the day before I was to be married."  
"You hid it well," remarked Buzz.  
"The idea of marrying Fop wasn't the only thing that was eating at me that day," she confessed. "Grief can hurt for a long time."  
She paused for a moment.  
"But you weren't friends toward the end of his life," she said. "He tried to kill you, more than once!"  
"I'd always hoped he would return someday. A futile hope, I guess. If he had even honestly tried to come back to Star Command, he would be put in prison. Just like he was," he mused.  
"Buzz, we need to go somewhere. How about an afternoon at the movies?" the thoughtful Tangean inquired, reaching across the table to press one of Buzz's hands in both of hers.  
"OK." He paused, a grin spreading across his face. "I'll buy the tickets, and we'll watch something that promises to be good. How about 'Treasure of History?'"  
"Come on, Buzz. No boring documentaries. We can see something historical, though, if you want." She stood, returning Buzz's smile as they left the booth.


	9. Magnets

Warp Darkmatter, alias Shatten Nascost, was exhausted. He had not realized how much he needed his sleep, and he wasn't getting much, what with day filled with training as a secret agent and night spent in blowing up buildings on Planet Z as his ghost. He had to admit, though, that it felt good to be back on the job. It had been a long time since he had been able to participate in down-and-dirty combat, even if you were fighting your trainer and a woman.  
He had spent only two hours sleeping in his ship when his alarm had beeped and he had been forced to get up. Warp had to say that getting up early was definitely not one of the perks of his job.  
_Who's complaining? At least you get to get out. You could've spent all the remaining years of your life in a prison cell._  
The blue man sighed deeply again, standing up slowly and stretching his arms toward the low ceiling of the sleeping chamber of his ship. It was a nice ship, almost nicer than his old Agent Z one, if a bit smaller. There was the cockpit, which held two leather seats (why, Warp didn't know, as he didn't have a copilot), the sleeping room, and a single cell for holding a prisoner if he should ever happen to capture one. There was also, of course, a small, closet-like bathroom. He would have to take a shower at Star Command; his ship didn't have one.  
But today, he had to go back to Planet Z for another hot, uncomfortable day spent learning what he already knew.

Velette still was lying in her bed, partially asleep, when she knew she had to get up. She was so tired.  
The Tangean woman moved to the mirror on the wall to look at herself. Her bun was in disarray, and her hair already was frizzed beyond recognition. Her suit was still looking good, but it had always been a little hard to wrinkle.  
_More training today,_ she told herself, and reluctantly grabbed the brush beside the sink, unpinned her bun, and ran it through her hair in a mechanical motion. _Why am I brushing my hair? _she asked herself. _I don't care what Nascost thinks of me._  
_Or do I? _she wondered as she looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. She would never be pretty again, and that was just about it. Her features were ravaged from years of worry, and she bore a scar across one azure cheek-a scar that she had earned fighting in her first real battle. Zurg had trained her mostly in the alternate universe, because he thought it would be easier for her to learn to fight a subdued version of Star Command before she went on to fight their own.  
It hadn't been hard to sneak into Star Command, but she had been caught and the bitter Tangean on the team with the Joadian and the robot ranger had scored a slash at her cheek with a laser. Velette hadn't yet learned proper flexibility, or rather the proper ability to duck. It was a valuable skill, as she had learned later.  
The blue woman finished brushing her hair and splashed a little water over her face, wiping it off with her sleeve. She knew it would only cool her skin for a few moments, but it was worth it in the hot, unforgiving climate of the red planet. She opened her door and stepped outside, closing it behind her as fast as she could. The swirling red dust from yesterday had not all been due to the explosions.  
_I didn't fight him very hard, _she thought of the man that had produced such destruction the night before. She had gotten a good look at his face while they were falling toward the surface of her place of captivity, and now she felt she knew that it wasn't only Zurg who could successfully pull off a faked death. The man hadn't been a ghost, she knew that much for sure.  
_I hope he won't be back again tonight, _she thought to herself as she lifted her feet higher above the red dirt on the ground, breaking into a jog as she hurried toward the palace for her morning briefing. Then it would be right to the launchpad and training. It was likely enough that Nascost was already waiting there.  
_Why does Zurg even think he's worth training? He's so abjectly terrible at everything I try to teach him. And I hate being a teacher, _she admitted to herself as she walked in the front door of the palace, wiping her forehead to clear a little of the red dust that sweat had stuck to her skin.  
Velette entered the palace, and a few grubs opened the next door in front of her, bowing in deference. She smiled bitterly. _If only you knew. I'm every bit as much a slave as you are._  
It didn't take long for her to get to the 'throne room'. Zurg was, as usual, busy concocting some villainous plan with his purple face-mask bent over a piece of paper. She didn't see what he was working on, but she suspected he was reviewing the Grubs' latest plan for some kind of ray or another.  
_He's so predictable. One day, it's a death ray, the next, it's a ray that will turn everyone into his brainless working machines. And the day after that is death ray day again._  
She swallowed a smart remark as she stepped in front of the throne of the evil emperor. He lifted his face from the paper and held it in front of her, the yellow grill over his mouth curving in a smile that would have been sincere on anyone else. It was, as expected, another ray.  
The Tangean agent coughed up the remark again.  
"Don't you think the 'I'll destroy the universe with this terrible ray' spiel is a little overused around here?"  
"It is _not!_" Zurg leaned forward intently in his throne, in a pose most people who knew his name were accustomed to seeing, whether on the news or in real life.  
"I apologize, Evil Emperor." She closed her eyes, wishing she hadn't said what she just had. How could her mouth run away with her so much?  
"I'd normally confine you for the day for that, but you have to go train my new agent instead. Maybe when you're done training him I'll just put you in confinement for good," contemplated Zurg, who never had been very good at avoiding gloating. Velette cringed. She knew his threat wasn't an empty one. _I guess I'll just try to make training last extra long. Maybe by the time it's over, I'll have found help of some kind._  
"Help of some kind!" she bitterly laughed to herself as she left the palace. Help indeed. She had been looking for it for how many years now? She longed for the open, jungle plains of Tangea, the comfort and luxury of her family's floating house. It wasn't as elaborate as the royal palace, but it was still beautiful. Beautiful and... homey. Something she hadn't seen or sensed since coming to Planet Z. Zurg was perfectly at home anywhere just as long as the place reeked of evil, and though neither brainpods or grubs liked living at the palace, they had no choice and knew no better.  
Velette still remembered the peace and quiet of Tangea, the sheltered, happy life she had led there. Here her mind was exposed to the raw evil of Zurg's plans and the unfortunate task of carrying them out; her body exposed to the noxious dust and other 'perks' of the job, like the scar across her cheek. She was tired of it all, so tired. And yet she could not run away. At any time in the past or the present she could have simply leaped into a ship on the launchpad and disappeared into the stars, but the presence of her brother held her back. She had felt it weakening of late, as if his unconscious body was finally shutting down. It had been hard to keep from screaming when she first knew it was happening, but her seven years would be up in only a day, and her brother would still be alive by then.  
Hopefully.

In any case, she had to get to the launchpad and start training the new soldier. Today they'd work some more on aim and firing. Nascost seemed to have lots of trouble keeping his gun focused on the target when he fired, since any kind of blaster or shooter bucked a little when fired. She had the innate feeling that he wasn't really a bad shot, just hadn't had enough practice.  
Trotting out to the launchpad, she greeted the young man with a handshake-much friendlier a greeting than he was used to from her. His face burned slightly under the mask as her small, yet strong hand gripped his, and the heat spread to his ears as he thought about it.  
_Warp Darkmatter, blushing at a _handshake?  
It was ludicrous, but true. The Tangean woman evidently hadn't sensed his feelings, for which he was glad. She knew little about him, for which he was infinitely grateful. Warp still didn't know quite what to think about the woman-she was like a slave in the body of a free woman.  
_Slave. I never had a slave mentality, as much as I worked in my years as Agent Z. I need to find more about her. _He smiled under his mask, rubbing his sleeve near the place where the button to change it was placed.  
The woman was leading him through the streets again, rapidly trotting toward the training clearing. The target was still there, stuck onto one of the buildings. He knew today he could do a little better than yesterday without blowing his cover.  
_Ms. Sheheimnis seems to need the confidence boost,_ thought Warp as the small woman took a blaster from her belt, handing one to Warp, who seemed to have misplaced his. He could almost smell her scorn.  
"Evil agents don't leave their weapons behind," she told him, her voice trembling slightly on the 'evil' and steadying as she continued. Warp wondered why. He had only occasionally been ashamed of himself during his early evil agent days. He hadn't especially liked the evil part, but to him it had simply been a requirement of the job. If you wanted to make money, you made it on the evil side. That was just how it went.  
"Yeah, I won't forget next time," he reassured her, nodding and lifting his arm to aim his circle of lasers.  
He didn't get a chance to fire them, because Sheheimnis put her hand on his arm, bringing it gently down to his side.  
"Today, I get to fire first."  
The touch of her hand burned right through the thick material of Warp's suit-sleeve. And her hand was gloved... why?  
_You are such a bumbling fool, Warp. You surrounded yourself with lovely women and today you're blushing over this ordinary-looking Tangean? You should be ashamed of yourself. _  
Though he blushed still deeper after he mentally scolded himself, he found that the burn on his arm didn't go away after the woman took her gloved hand off.  
Sheheimnis held up the small gun from her belt, aiming it, but she noticed Agent Nascost's inattention. She snapped her fingers next to Warp's face. "Wake up, sleepyhead! There's no time to be distracted now. I've other things to do than train you all day."  
_What other things? _wondered Warp, somewhat subconsciously, casting a curious glance in Velette's direction. She did appear to be rather drawn - tired, maybe.  
The woman gave a frustrated sigh and a small punch to the armor over Warp's left shoulder. "Pay attention!"  
He shook his head slightly, then focused on the task at hand.

...

Velette walked away from the training ground, parting ways with Agent Nascost as soon as they got to the launchpad. He was such a problem. She wished she didn't have to train him, but then, she wouldn't even be here that much longer. He could finish training by himself after she left with her brother.  
The young Tangean woman went straight to Zurg's palace to report. She didn't like telling him how much, or rather how little, Nascost had improved each day, but she knew she had to, or Zurg would be angry.

Five minutes later, she walked out of the palace, sighing and shaking her head as she did so. Zurg wasn't in too good of a mood today, and he had barely heard her report before he waved her out. Listening to his yelling was not a pleasant pastime, and she pitied the grubs that had to work at his next sinister project with their eardrums nearly being blown out at the same time.  
She turned the corner, going to the building that held her room. She pushed the combination of buttons on the pad beside the door, then went in and sat on the bed, the only piece of furniture in the tiny room.  
Velette was exhausted. She lay down on her bed, staring at the ceiling in an attempt to stay awake a bit longer. Why, she didn't know...  
She blinked once, but it seemed to be nearly impossible to open her eyes. On her second blink, her eyes stayed closed. Her breathing became slow and regular, its sound the only one in the room, which had buzzed with silence a moment before. Planet Z was like that; one moment sound so deafening it could make you pass out, then silence so heavy it was like the pressure of gravity.  
Bright scenes of Tangea, then of the crash onto Planet Z, flashed across the backs of the tortured woman's eyelids. She writhed in her sleep, trying to run from the crash but finding her feet were sinking into the red dust that swirled up around her. Zurg was standing next to the ship, ready to chase her brother into the core of the planet.  
But this time, Warp Darkmatter-the one that had held what now was her place during her long years of secret training, came out against Zurg. He stood there, glowing in a strange way that her unconscious mind seemed to remember from somewhere, the wrist laser on his Star Command-issue suit pointed directly at Zurg. Zurg pointed his disintegrator gun at him, but the blue man reached out a quick hand and grabbed it, pointing it at Zurg in turn.  
Then the dream was gone, and Velette sat up straight, shaking, sweat pouring from her face. The scar on her cheek throbbed, and she pulled back the covers to sit up for a minute.  
Pressing a small hand to her cheek to stop the pain, she shuddered once, then again. She tried to shake her head, to clear the dream from her mind, and failed. It was indelibly burnt there on the backs of her retinas, that scene which she never had witnessed.  
She wondered only briefly if anything had happened to make her think of Darkmatter.  
_That man you encountered blowing up buildings a few days ago was him. You know it, though you'd like to think it's someone else posing as him. _  
Velette would have liked to think that indeed. Yet she knew it; there was something about his face that reminded her of the man from whom she had secretly learned all her fighting techniques and style. He had been as bold as she, but for different reasons. He had loved the money and fame (perhaps better called infamy) that came with the position, but she loved none of it. She only remained because she had no idea what would happen to her brother if she left. One of Zurg's minions wouldn't take a second thought to obliterating the unimportant Tangean.  
And she was just yet another unimportant Tangean, working for Zurg as if her life depended on it. And indeed it did, in a way, for her brother was all she had left of her old life. Somehow, over the years, she had managed to mask the pain of losing her parents through constant work. She worked from the time the bulb on her ceiling switched off for the day spent outside it, to the time it switched back on for the night, for there was no sun on Planet Z.  
Warp Darkmatter... well, she suspected that if she hadn't been so buried in her grief, she would have had a tremendous crush on him during the time when his last and her first years as Agent Z overlapped. He was a handsome man indeed, but during those years, before she had become hardened to the same crimes that he committed daily, she had felt a strange, slight disgust toward him. And as the years progressed, she had felt pity take its place. He had been unhappy with his job in his later years. Before, it seemed like he fed off the adrenaline and the money that came along with it, but in those last few years, he had seemed to slowly deflate. After the space mummy incident, he was deflated entirely. The day he had showed up after his 'day off' had been his last as Agent Z.  
_And he gave it up for what, prison? _Yet knowing what she did of the job, Sheheimnis understood perfectly why he had gone to prison rather than face another year as Zurg's top agent.  
Evidently, he hadn't stayed in prison, either, but turned to the good side and ended up going to Planet Z to atone for his crimes, destroying Zurg's empire as he had once tried to destroy the empire of good. And she had seen him-fought him-even looked briefly into his face before she had dove away.  
Velette seemed to remember something having sparked in his eyes-whether surprise or something else she hadn't had the time to tell.  
_No more musings, Velette. You'd better be up now, since you probably won't be able to sleep more anyway._  
She sighed as she opened the door, this time to a loud _boom _that knocked her to the floor inside her room.

A second later, she slung her jetpack onto her back and activated it, diving up out of her room to spiral out above the explosions high in the polluted atmosphere.  
_Warp._  
Sure enough, she spotted the glow of his suit just as he aimed his laser and fired again. She felt a strange gratefulness, a metallic taste in her mouth growing as she watched another take the revenge that should be hers.  
Yet Zurg would question her loyalty if she did not go down at once and make some attempt to make him go away.  
She flew down near the surface, to where the blue man circled above the ruins of the red buildings like a hawk.  
Velette knew he would soon be gone, and after he was, she would no longer be able to get her revenge with a cover. No one would see it if she decided to blow up some buildings as well, for among her many weapons was a laser like his that would leave no plasma residue to identify her by. She grabbed it off her belt, then, flying in tandem with Darkmatter, aimed it and fired at the buildings she passed.

_What is she doing? Is she insane? Zurg will be furious!_  
Warp pushed the button to lower his helmet.  
"Stop it! Fight me, for your own sake!"  
"No," she answered simply, her lips tightening as she fired at more buildings.  
"You'll be caught!"  
"I don't care," she told him, her eyes still fixed on the buildings she was next to explode, sweat sticking the loose strands of hair to the sides of her cheeks and matting it on her forehead.  
"You will care, more than you know! Get out of here!"  
"I told you, no!"  
Darkmatter easily turned toward the agent flying beside him, grabbing her about the waist and tucking her under his arm like last time.  
"I'm taking you away from here," he said, knowing this was the only way to stop her seeming insanity from destroying her.  
"Let me have my revenge!" she cried.  
"Revenge for what?" asked Warp, zooming past the explosions, making his way halfway around the planet in record time. He descended to the ground as fast as he could and released Velette. She prepared to lift off again, but her jetpack wouldn't work. _Stupid thing,_ she thought as she pushed the button again and again.  
"I've temporarily disabled it," he told her. "You need to get this off your chest to someone." He knew it; the training sessions had proved it to him after only a little while.  
"I'm not 'unburdening' myself to anyone but my brother!" she snapped, still trying to get her jetpack to work.  
"Then don't. Where's your brother?"  
She was silent, biting her lip to keep back the tears she hated so much and knew so well. When Warp spoke next, his deep voice was gentle.  
"Zurg captured him, didn't he?"  
Velette nodded.  
"I'm sorry," he said, knowing how inadequate the words were but not knowing how better to say it. His mind easily filled the blanks of what she hadn't said: she had somehow ended up here either by accident or something, but definitely without intention to work for Zurg. Then her brother had been captured and held hostage to get her work. She must have looked something like a fighter, or Zurg wouldn't have held her brother hostage.  
Zurg had probably given an ultimatum. Most likely a 'work for me for so many years and your brother will be free'. Of course he didn't mean it; he intended to keep her services for as long as she lived. Zurg never kept a promise.

The woman's face crumpled, and her shoulders heaved with silent sobs. She turned away from him, instinctively trying to hide her face with one red-gloved hand.  
Warp squatted beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder and hoping it wouldn't be thrown off. Sheheimnis didn't tell him to leave her alone. She was probably grateful for the small amount of comfort the hand of another sentient being on her back afforded.  
She looked up at him for a second, the sweat which had matted her hair now replaced with tears, her eyes penitent and regretful.  
The man took his hand from her back as she slowly stood. "I can take you back to your quarters," he offered, removing something from the jetpack on her back.  
He offered her his left hand, and she gratefully took it, glad that there was someone to help her back. She wasn't sure she'd make it on her own.  
He pushed something on his suit's right sleeve, and they left the ground together, his right arm flaming like a jetpack as he pulled her back to her quarters.  
"I have to stop by the exploded buildings first," she told him. He was already on his way. They only touched down for a few brief seconds, enough for Velette to get an idea of the damage, before Warp took her arm again and flew her back to the place where she slept.  
They stopped outside the building, and it took a second for Warp to let go of her arm.  
Neither of them were smiling, but there was something sweet in the dusty air, and it wasn't revenge.  
Warp turned away to go.  
"Warp," Velette broke the silence, her mouth nearly stumbling over the one-syllable word as she called Darkmatter by his name for the first time.  
He half-turned, then, seeing her face, came all the way back.  
"I'm sorry I fought you," she told him, stalling for time. His presence was like an anchor, keeping her from drifting into the toxic seas of memories that filled her mind.  
"It's fine," he replied, not looking a bit bewildered. He knew she was stalling.  
"I-I don't want you to go," she confessed, looking down at the red dust at her feet, then back up at the face of the man in front of her.  
"I'll have to before long, or Zurg will get suspicious," he told her, regret edging his voice. It was obvious he didn't want to leave.  
"I don't think either of us have many friends," she said, keeping her eyes on his face.  
"You don't know how right you are." She sensed something, a deeper regret than before, that washed over his face and filled his voice.  
"I'm sorry for what I've done too," she told him, hoping it was the right thing to say.  
"I had no reason. You... you had no choice."  
He turned to go again, but halted in mid-step.  
"Velette, is there _any _way I could help you get out of this?"  
She shook her head. "The deal ends tomorrow. Then my brother will be released, and I'll be free to go back to Tangea."  
"I must warn you," he said, "things will not be the same back on your home planet. It's a painful thought, but you have to be prepared."  
"I've prepared myself much in the past."  
He turned to leave once again, then soared away over the tops of the red-tinted buildings, his jet-arm carrying him to his ship far away.

...

XR was back from whatever he'd been doing on Tradeworld, and whatever it was had left him happy and probably covered in dollar bills. The team was again together, trotting down the hall toward the Star Command training bay. Team Lightyear would help the rookies learn today.  
"So, what are we teaching them today, how to properly fire a laser?"  
"Might as well be, for all the noise it'll make," said Mira, who wasn't in a good mood today. Her father had called her that morning to scold her for some misdemeanor or another, and she usually wasn't too happy after a call from him.  
"Come on, Mira, don't be grumpy. You'll have fun," said Booster, always the positive one. He was perfectly happy today; his parents had invited him to Joad for dinner, and he had been given official leave so he could go.  
XR was silent except for his upbeat whistling. It would have made Buzz happy to hear it if he knew it wasn't money that put the robot ranger in such a good mood.  
"So, Team, here we go!" He pushed the button beside a hatch that led into the bay. There were around 50 rookies already there.  
Mira got up in front of them and did a little introductory speech. Buzz frowned as he noted that it lacked enthusiasm-considerably.  
_There's no reason for her to be so grumpy in front of all the rookies. Way to encourage them to love their job. _

That afternoon, the team went to Cosmo's for lunch, like they did almost every day. They were waiting for their orders when Mira brought up another thing which had been troubling her.  
"Yesterday, I'm pretty sure I saw a black ship docking at our landing bay. I got home late from the movie, then couldn't sleep, so I was up late enough to see it when it came in, at about 2 or 3 A.M. It could be a spy, but it could be just my imagination. What do you think, Buzz?"  
"It probably _is _your imagination," he told her, somewhat nonchalantly.  
XR remarked, "It might be the eeevil mini-nought of Evil Emperor Zurg! Horror! Flee!"  
"Yeah, Mira, it's probably just your imagination."  
She shrugged, brightening a bit as her Pixarian patty melt was set down on the table in front of her.  
"I kinda think I saw it, but you guys probably know best," she said noncommittally.


	10. Fire

Today she would be free. Today her brother would be free.  
_Today is my day, _thought the young Tangean as she wended her way through the streets to Zurg's palace. She was so excited for this day. For seven long years, she had worked to free her brother, and now she would be able to go back to a life that somehow resembled normalcy. And the thought of that made her very, very happy.

Warp Darkmatter was still sitting in his ship, waiting for a briefing at Star Command. He had arrived a bit early so he'd have time to think.  
_What made Velette and me so personal yesterday? The formerly shared occupation? Did her pain make me want to comfort her and that's why? _  
_Or is it just that I like her?_  
He rested a blue cheek on one hand. The Tangean woman and himself had so much and so little in common. They had both been agents for Zurg, but their motives were entirely different.  
Velette wanted out, as Warp once had, yet she couldn't leave of her own accord without losing her brother.  
_Zurg'll never let her leave,_ he thought, sighing, then woke back up to reality as the hatch opened and maneuvered his ship into the secret launch bay.  
He would have been decidedly more careful if he knew a whole team of rangers were watching. The best team of rangers on Star Command.

...

"I won't say I told you so," said Mira, as she handed the sight enhancers to Buzz. He sighed as he saw it. "All right, you win. But we need to get over there right away."  
Buzz opened his communicator. "Commander Nebula. Red alert. We've been invaded."  
"What do you mean, invaded?" returned Nebula in his habitual yell.  
"A black ship just descended into Star Command!"  
"I'll take care of it." Then Nebula's image flickered off the communicator, and Buzz and company zoomed toward the ship.

...

Agent Nascost was just getting out of his ship in the secret bay when his wrist communicator, cleverly hidden among the natural lines of his suit, beeped. He opened it.  
"Warp, you have to leave. Sorry, but I think today you'll have to do without a briefing. You'll find something to do, I'm sure."  
Shatten swore and closed his communicator. Great. He was looking forward to catching a few winks before he headed off to Planet Z again.  
_Pretty soon, I'm going to just drop in the middle of training. I'm so exhausted, my body won't be able to take it anymore before long. _  
Oh well. Maybe he could sleep a bit in his ship, after he put it in orbit of that little planet again. Then he would have to go to Planet Z.  
Wait-wasn't today the day when Velette was supposed to be released?  
_I have to be there. She won't take it well when Zurg refuses to let her go._  
He pushed the button on the inside of his sleeve, then the one on his dashboard. He sped out of the hatch the moment it opened, the ship and suit still collapsing and reforming around him.

...

Velette stood in front of Zurg's throne, joy as she had not felt in seven years overflowing her soul and putting a sincere, if a bit shy, smile on her scarred face. She lifted it to face Zurg.  
He was smiling too.

She felt a sudden chill to her bone.

Zurg reached out and briefly touched a button on the side table next to his throne.

Suddenly, something dropped away from Velette. She fell to the floor, gasping. "What-have-you-done, Zurg?"  
Then she realized what had disappeared. "My brother! Where is he! What have you done with him?"  
"He never existed, Velette. He was nothing more than a mirage in your mind, something for you to look forward to after all these years here."  
"But he is real! I remember growing up with him on Tangea!"  
"You did grow up on Tangea, but you never had a brother." The yellow grill on Zurg's face curved still more.  
"I most certainly did."  
"Ah well. The illusion worked so well for so many years-I guess I don't _have _to dispel it for you. But I will anyway." He waved his metal hand, a dismissive gesture, then pushed another button.  
A youthful-looking man, tall and with a long face, entered. He was Tangean. Something about his face roused long-forgotten memories in Velette's foggy mind.  
He walked to Velette's side, and pushed a single finger into her forehead.  
"Her memories are returned to her," the young man said, a grin as malicious as any Velette had seen spreading across his aquiline face.  
"Thank you, Angstrom."  
_I knew it! Or did I... _

The memories, once collapsed like a house of cards in Velette's mind, were suddenly reconstructed again, and they made her head hurt with their intensity and the shock she felt at suddenly knowing the truth. She fell to the floor, her head feeling as if it would burst. Even a Tangean mind did not know how to handle this much sudden information. Her eyes closed tight, and she moaned as if she had been struck by a laser.  
_I never had a brother. My mother and father died when I was eighteen, in a shuttle crash. They did not crash into Planet Z, but another planet not far from it. I was picked up by a dreadnought while still knocked out from the crash. I was brought here, and then... _her memories blanked out there, and then they continued in an endless stream of lies. She had worked for years to free a brother who had existed only in the memories concocted by a Tangean with a twisted mind and a paranoid fear of death.  
The importance of the memories suddenly dwindled away to a mere spark.  
_Angstrom? _  
"You shall have your youth for as long as you wish," Zurg told the young-old Tangean advisor, who was now standing beside Velette's crumpled form, his arms crossed in a smug position.  
"I'm glad you keep at least _some _of your promises. Though the victory is almost as good a payment as my youth." A faint, light and deliciously victorious laugh came from Angstrom, but Velette didn't cringe.  
Instead, she sat up, her hand immediately at her belt. _Where are my weapons?_  
As if he had read her mind, Zurg told her, "I had them taken off while you were 'lost in thought.' It would be a huge mistake not to clip the dogs claws and file its teeth before it goes mad."  
Velette stood, her fury suddenly unbounded. She hated this vile creature, this Tangean traitor, this place.  
"Give me back my weapons." Her voice was a low growl.  
Zurg laughed. "Ooh, it's getting angry. Better not let it get _too_ angry." He raised his voice. "Hornets!"  
A dozen yellow robots marched into the room, each holding an arm out, ready to fire.  
The young Tangean woman collapsed back down onto the red floor, sobs racking her thin body.  
"Take her away."  
The hornets retracted their weapons. Two of them grabbed her by the arms and dragged her toward the door.  
She grabbed their claws and pulled at them with surprising strength, which still wasn't enough. Zurg simply looked on, laughing again, a deep, evil laugh.  
The woman, her eyes burning with the green fire of hatred, grabbed the hornets' arms and twisted enough to face Zurg. She pulled hard at the metal arms, trying to aim them at the evil emperor, but she just wasn't strong enough.

...

Warp turned the ship toward Planet Z, pulling the lever for hyperspeed all the way down. He had to get there, and soon. Velette would be devastated when she discovered that she would have to wait another seven years-or would Zurg say more?-to rescue her brother.  
He drummed his gloved fingers on the dashboard as he came toward the planet.  
_Now Nascost steps in. _  
The blue man pushed the button on the dashboard, then the one on his suit. He relaxed as he entered Zurgspace and hurtled through the atmosphere to the launchpad, but his senses remained alert.  
He left the ship. A faint breeze scudded the red dust along the surface of the launchpad, as it did any other day. He looked and listened as hard as he could, but he heard nothing. _I have to find her. _  
Warp activated his jetpack and flew to where her room was, circling above the spot for only a moment before landing in front of the door. He knocked once, twice. Then three times, and four.  
_She must be at Zurg's palace. _  
The blue man, now noticeably nervous, jetted over the numerous red buildings to the central palace. Agent Nascost stood outside the door, waiting to see if he would be blocked.  
Half a dozen hornets arrived in the doorway.  
_If Zurg doesn't want me in, fine. I'll get in in spite of him. _  
He pushed the button on his sleeve. The hornets, since they had no artificial intelligence, wouldn't stop him.  
He walked straight forward, and, grabbing the nearest hornets by the arms, slung them into the others and dropped them.  
As he entered the eerily silent red-walled halls and tunnels that led to Zurg's throne room, Warp picked up his pace, breaking into a jog. There was something very bad going on here.  
Suddenly, he stopped still. What was that?  
A faint wail came from the throne room. A female cry. He knew it was Velette.  
His anger burned inexplicably against the evil emperor for causing this woman-this woman who he barely knew-pain.  
As he came from the side passage which opened onto the throne room, he saw a sight that made his very bones ache with rage.

Zurg's face was stretched into a grin, and there was someone else there-a Tangean that Warp recognized-_Angstrom!_ but much younger than he had ever seen him. His grin was even more chilling than Zurg's, for on anyone else, the same smile would have been sincere. Something about the young man twisted the smile into a horrible thing.  
Velette looked as if she was nearly unconscious. She was weakly trying to fight back at the hornets that were trying to drag her from the room. Her face seemed to have aged ten years, and her eyes were full of a hatred whose flame was beginning to die.  
Warp activated his jet-arm, flying straight toward Velette.  
She saw him, and her eyes opened wide. He saw some semblance of hope dawning in her war-scarred face.  
He landed and tore one of the hornets off her arm, blasting it with his wrist laser. The other let go of Velette's arm to fight him, and he blasted it as well.  
"Go!" He motioned to Velette. "My ship is the black one, and it's unlocked. Get away from here!"  
"_Duck!_" Velette yelled to him as a blast from Zurg's disintegrator ray just missed their heads.  
"You get out of here! Now!"  
She lifted her face to his. "You won't take him down alone," she told him.  
"I don't care! Just as long as you don't go down!"  
Zurg aimed again. They instinctively ducked, Warp shielding her body with his.  
The evil emperor alighted from his throne, using his jet-boots to land firmly in front of them. Warp held his laser at the emperor, and Zurg followed suit with his ray.  
Velette inched her hand toward the blaster that had been on her belt only a little earlier today. Angstrom hadn't thrown it far when he'd disarmed her. She tried moving a bit further. Her hand gripped the plasma blaster, and she squeezed the handle to telescope it out. Inching around Warp to the right side, she watched Zurg's eyes carefully. They were locked on Warp's wrist laser. _I'll have to count on that staying that way._  
Her heart pounding, she edged toward the shadows, then darted along the wall. Her energy felt restored with the new rush of adrenaline. Memories she had not had for years since today rose in her mind, and she forced them down with difficulty, gritting her teeth as she tried to concentrate on the task at hand.  
She came out of the shadows just behind Zurg. Warp didn't see her. She knew she'd have to move a bit to one side in order to avoid catching Warp with the plasma charge.  
Sheheimnis pulled the first trigger. She heard the gun gearing up to fire.

Time slowed down as Agent Z's red-gloved finger made contact with the second trigger. She watched the white ball of fire travel toward Zurg, and she felt she had won at last. Her heartbeat slowed, and she could hear it drum against the inside of her chest, each time: _one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. _  
The plasma charge made its way toward Zurg.  
And time once again became a distinct reality.

Warp stepped to the right to distract Zurg's attention from his laser.

Velette screamed.


	11. Ashes

A lone tear squeezed from one of Velette's closed eyes. It ran down her cheek, lighting on the drawn face of the man whose head she held in her lap.  
"Velette," murmured Warp. He was drifting in his mind, fading toward the blackness that lurked at the corners of his vision, then shifting again to the steadily narrowing circle of light. Velette was there, and he wanted to see her. She needed him.  
_But your job is done, Warp. You've fought the good fight, and she's free. You're free too, Warp. You don't have to stay here._ _It's OK for you to let go._  
Every time he came closer to her, the pain throbbed in his side again, and he wanted none of the pain. He had to see her, though, had to hang on. It was in his blood.  
"Warp. Stay awake. I'm here." Her voice broke, though he could tell she was trying to be strong for his sake.  
He couldn't raise his hand to reassure her, but maybe he could try to say something.  
"Don't worry... about... me." He moaned as the effort brought back feeling to his side.  
"I tried to call the emergency service, but Angstrom disabled all the phones." Her voice broke again, and this time she hung her head low over the fallen warrior, her sweat-matted hair slowly washing clean with tears.  
"Don't cry," managed Warp, concentrating as hard as he could to move his bionic hand toward hers, which rested on his chest above the wound. She picked it up and held it in both her small, work-worn ones. Another tear slipped onto his hand as she held it to her scarred cheek.  
_She does need me. _ The pain came back to his side with a jolt as he fought to stay conscious. "I'm still here," he told her, but he could see, even with his clouded vision, that her thin shoulders were shaking.  
He wished he could tell her to stop crying, but he knew it would do no good. His eyes wandered to her face. It was a beautiful face, even when she was grieving. It wasn't beautiful in the way that most would define the word; but it was deep. And that depth was to Warp the most gorgeous trait a woman could have.  
The green and blue eyes met, and they both knew that the other realized the truth. Velette gently put down Warp's bionic hand. She picked up the real one and squeezed it, trying both to draw strength from him and to put hers into his dying body.  
"Velette...no use..." He coughed twice, and Velette wiped away the tiny trickle of blood that left the corner of his mouth.  
"You're still here. I can help you, somehow," she told him, the red dust on her face now streaked with tears.  
Warp shook his head ever so slightly, and he coughed again.  
"No," he faintly moaned, and Velette dropped his hand, holding his head in both of hers.  
"Don't fall asleep! Don't go into the darkness! You'll never come back!" She was nearly hysterical now, though he could see she was trying to look calm for him.  
"I... love... you."  
The new Agent Z was no foreigner to death. She saw something change in his eyes, and frantically slapped one side of his face, lightly, but hard enough to sting.  
"Pain...can't.. take... it," murmured Warp, just loud enough for her to hear the change in his voice as well.  
Terrified now, the Tangean gently shook his broad shoulders. He coughed again, but this time it turned into a spasm she couldn't stop. He just kept coughing, and that awful red stain appeared at the corner of his mouth, and Velette knew it was the end.  
The tensed muscles in Warp's shoulders relaxed, but he didn't waste the little breath he had left.  
"Go.. on.. living." Then his body went limp, and Velette knew it was over.

A/N: Sad, I know, and short.  
Oh well.  
No spoilers for the last chapter here. Suffice to say that I don't even know, at the moment, what exactly is going to happen.  
Well, hang on for the last chapter!


	12. The Phoenix

_Two years later..._

A Tangean woman walked briskly down a sidewalk on Capital Planet, her arms swinging and legs pumping, but the exercise did not make her happy.  
Nothing did, these days.  
Velette Sheheiminis had returned to Capital Planet since Warp had died, given a pardon for her illegal activities on the basis of mental delusion. Tangea, she felt, would remind her too much of the lies that Angstrom had put in her mind for so many years.  
Angstrom was now dead, since the bottle of chemicals that had given him youth had broken in the fight those long two years ago. The plasma blast that had killed Warp had only grazed off Zurg's side, but now he was in prison-with bionic arms instead of his metal ones.  
There was still evil in the universe, but different evil than Zurg's brand. The grubs and brainpods were free, and many of the brainpods had gotten their bodies back.  
And Warp was dead.

Velette could have been happy with everything else, could even not have cared if Zurg had escaped, if only Warp was alive.  
She would remember the fateful day for the rest of her life-how she had sat up with the fallen warrior for hours on end, just to stroke his forehead and try to wish back his life.  
She would always remember how when he had died, she had cried-wept as she never had before. And then she had left him there in the empty throneroom, and went to her ship to leave. He was too heavy for her to carry, or she would have taken him to Capital Planet for a funeral.  
As it was now, the planet which Warp had saved by his help for the former Agent Z was off-limits to everyone-as if it was holy ground. Velette preferred it that way. Never going back to Planet Z was a good thing, for if she ever did, she feared she would not be able to take the painful memories.  
She would always regret somehow leaving Warp behind. But as things were, she had not been strong enough at the time to carry him back to her ship.  
_I didn't even know where he lived before he came to Planet Z. _She stopped walking, her head hung low in a poor attempt to mask her tears.  
They had known each other for such a short time, but he had made a small thing of risking his life-and losing it-to rescue her.  
_And I was the one who killed him. _  
Her guilt, a deep, black pit of unhappy feelings and memories, was as hard to deal with as her grief. She tried to convince herself time and time again that she had been trying to hit _Zurg, _not Warp, but the fact always would remain. She had hit Warp.  
Velette couldn't stand the light, the twittering birds, the green on the trees anymore. They all seemed to mock at her grief, and she cringed away from the joy and peace she found around her. She had to go home.  
There was nothing for it. She would push through every day knowing she had killed him, and cry every night at the memory.  
She turned the last corner on the sidewalk toward her home. It was a modest place, but the government had pitied her enough to pay for her lodging there the rest of her life. They also paid her a small 'salary,' seeing that her years as Agent Z had probably incapacitated her to work at a regular job.  
The old-young Tangean woman turned up her driveway, then noticed there was someone standing at her door.  
_Who... no one comes to visit me anymore!_ She was curious. Who was this person?  
He was wearing a loose, baggy hoodie, so she couldn't see even the back of his head.  
She trotted rapidly up the walk to her door, then came up behind the man. She gently tapped him on the shoulder. "Hello, did you want to see me?"  
He jumped a little and turned to face her in surprise.  
Velette's eyes widened, and her face drained to a pale, pale blue.  
The man instinctively reached out to make sure she wouldn't fall. His large hands caught her back as she nearly fell off the porch step.  
"Sweetie, it's OK."  
She looked full into his face for the first time ever, searching it. _It's really him. _Her grief-numbed mind refused to comprehend it at first.  
The young woman tentatively reached a hand up to trace a scar on his cheek that had not been there before.  
"I'm home, Velette. I'm home at last." His blue eyes, filled with tears, now searched her face as well. _She's unhurt. I did my job well._  
_He's alive. _Her mind finally cleared of the grief enough to comprehend the fact, and she was instantly filled with an amazing sort of wonder and life. It was almost like she had never lived before, but was simply hidden in a cocoon, just waiting to burst into joy and light and love.  
Warp put his arms around her and pulled her to his right side in an embrace. He bent his head over hers, and they both cried in the washing away of the past.  
When he and she finally pulled apart, they held each other at arm's length, each feeling that they'd lose the other if they ever let go.  
The unspoken question was clear in Warp's eyes, and Velette's answer shone from her radiant face.  
Holding hands, they walked back down the sidewalk.  
Their eyes met as the sound of the color of joy filled their hearts.  
"Yes, my Phoenix."

A/N: Yet another short chapter. I feel I have a few things to explain to the reader, especially about Warp's supposed death.  
Well, to tell the truth, I don't quite know how to explain, because I don't know myself how he survived after Velette left.  
One thing that's sure is that he didn't die when Velette thought he did: he just went into a deep coma. He eventually got medical care for his wounds by the skilled hands of the LGMs, and then spent the rest of those two years, after he recovered enough to do so, looking for Velette. It was quite hard for him to find her, since the government had been kind enough not to release her location to the public for her own safety.  
In any case, you probably have already made a guess at where they went right after re-uniting: to get married. In truth, they didn't. They decided to allow their relationship to blossom instead of rushing it: to learn more about each other, to know they would be able to handle a marriage even though they were already pretty sure they could. In short, they started dating.  
And a word about why Warp was wearing a baggy hoodie-it wasn't so no one would recognize him, it was because non-baggy clothes would hurt him. Wouldn't you wear comfortable clothes if you got a plasma charge in the side? :P  
Oh, and about the reference to a phoenix both in the title and in the last sentence: a phoenix is, according to , _a mythical bird of great beauty fabled to live 500 or 600 years in the Arabian wilderness, to burn itself on a funeral pyre, and to rise from its ashes in the freshness of youth and live through another cycle of years: often an emblem of immortality or of reborn idealism or hope._  
Obviously, it's figurative, as Warp didn't end up actually dying, and he would never hurt himself on purpose. But still, I like the symbolism, especially because in this chapter, he came back in more senses than one-the old Warp that once was Agent Z was completely gone now. He was a new man, his sullied record as clean as it had been before he defected the first time.  
I also thought the symbolism appropriate because in this 'verse, he 'came back to life' three times-once after he defected the first time-again after he defected to Star Command-and again after his near brush with death.

I might do a sequel, but it's a _might. _  
In any case, hope you enjoyed, and please review!


	13. Ashes: Alternative Version

**A/N: This 'alternative' chapter is a bit longer than the other, but also a bit more graphic and adds more description. I felt that the other one wasn't long enough to contain all the emotion I wanted to put in it, so I fixed it and here is the result.**

**I might end up replacing the earlier version with this one.**

A lone tear squeezed from one of Velette's closed eyes. It ran down her cheek, lighting on the drawn face of the man whose head she held in her lap.

"Velette," murmured Warp. He was drifting in his mind, fading toward the blackness that lurked at the corners of his vision, then shifting his focus again to the steadily narrowing circle of light. Velette was there, and he wanted to see her. She needed him. Now was not the time... not the time...

_But your job is done, Warp. You've fought the good fight, and she's free. You're free too, Warp. You don't have to stay here._ _It's OK for you to let go._

He _had_ fought the good fight. Zurg had fled in the detachable top of his palace, both slightly wounded by the plasma charge which had grazed his side and caught up in a fit of unusual fear of the young woman who seemed to be able to escape him in the worst of situations. Angstrom was dead, his youth stripped of him by the breaking of the bottle with the chemical that held the power to renew it.

Velette was safe now-it would be both safe for her to leave and to stay. She hadn't been hurt that much in the battle-so he thought, though he couldn't really tell with his rapidly-narrowing, blurred range of vision. But she still needed him, and of that he could be sure. What he could discern of her face told that she wouldn't be able to take another loss well.

But every time he came closer to her, the pain throbbed in his side again, and he wanted none of the pain. He had to see her in spite of it, had to hang on. It was in his blood.

"Warp. Stay awake. I'm here." the Tangean's voice broke, though he could tell she was trying to be strong for his sake.

He couldn't raise his hand to reassure her, but maybe he could try to say something.

"Don't worry... about... me." He moaned as the effort brought back feeling to his side, and he watched Velette almost cringe as her attention was brought back to his wound.

There was a spot on the left side of his abdomen where both the suit and undersuit had been completely blown away. Underneath was a layer of torn skin and muscle, and part of the charge had gone even further, causing damage deep inside. Blood pooled on the floor next to him and stained his white ghost-ranger uniform, and a little of it still flowed sluggishly from the wound.

"I tried to call the emergency service, but Angstrom disabled all the phones." Her voice broke again, and this time she hung her head low over the fallen warrior, her sweat-matted hair slowly washing clean with tears.

"Don't cry," managed Warp, concentrating as hard as he could to move his bionic hand toward hers, which rested on his chest above the place where the plasma charge had hit. She picked it up and held it in both her small, work-worn ones. Another tear slipped onto his hand as she held it to her scarred cheek.

_She does need me. _ The pain came back to his side with a jolt as he fought to stay conscious. "I'm still here," he told her, but he could see, even with his clouded vision, that her thin shoulders were shaking.

He wished he could tell her to stop crying, but he knew it would do no good. His eyes wandered to her face. It was a beautiful face, even when she was grieving. It wasn't beautiful in the way that most would define the word; but it was deep. And that depth was to Warp the most gorgeous trait a woman could have.

The green and blue eyes met, and they both knew that the other realized the truth. Velette gently put down Warp's bionic hand. She picked up the real one and squeezed it, trying both to draw strength from him and to put hers into his dying body.

"Velette...no use..." He coughed twice, weakly cringing around his side like a wounded lizard as the cough jarred his side. Velette wiped away the tiny trickle of blood that left the corner of his mouth.

"You're still here. I can help you, somehow," she told him, the red dust on her face now streaked with tears.  
Warp shook his head ever so slightly, and he coughed again, his face slowly draining of color as his heartbeat slowed.

"No," he faintly moaned, and Velette dropped his hand, holding his head in both of hers.

"Don't fall asleep! Don't go! You'll never come back!" She was nearly hysterical now, not even trying to look calm anymore.

"I... love... you."

The new Agent Z was no foreigner to death. She saw something change in his eyes, and frantically slapped one side of his face, firmly, but not hard enough.

"Pain...can't.. take... it," murmured Warp, just loud enough for her to hear the change in his voice as well.

Terrified now, the Tangean gently shook his broad shoulders. He coughed again, but this time it turned into a spasm she couldn't stop. He just kept coughing, and that awful red stain appeared at the corner of his mouth, and Velette knew it was the end.

The tensed muscles in Warp's shoulders relaxed, but he didn't waste the little breath he had left.

"Go.. on.. living." Then his body went limp, and Velette knew it was over.

**A/N: Sad, I know, and short. **  
**Oh well.**  
**Hang on for the ending!**


End file.
